Their Shared Secret
by Ms.K216
Summary: Now that certain secrets aren't so secret anymore what does life have in store for Marinette and Adrien? Rated T just in case. This is the sequel to my other story 'Behind the Mask'.
1. Queen of Broken Hearts part 1

**A/N: ! WARNING ! This is a SEQUEL! If you haven't read my story 'Behind the Mask' I suggest you read that first. There are **_**definitely**_ **spoilers!**

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"Bye mom!" Marinette waved to her mother as she opened the door to the bakery, she was about to leave for school.

"You never leave this early." Mrs. Cheng chuckled. "Especially on a Monday morning." Marinette smiled and closed the door again, walking up to the counter.

"I know, but if I leave now I'll get to spend a few minutes with Adrien before class." The girl smiled at the thought of her first day of school with Adrien as her boyfriend. It was hard to believe that the weekend had started out with her being so sad that Cat Noir had figured out her secret identity. All that sadness she'd felt on Friday afternoon melted away when she found out that her crime fighting partner was in fact her long time crush and that he actually liked her back.

"You really like him a lot don't you?" Marinette's mom teased. Marinette sighed happily and leaned against the counter.

"I really do Mom." Marinette smiled. "I've liked him for such a long time it's hard to believe that we're actually together now."

"He seems like a sweet boy. He was very polite on the phone when he called to ask if you could stay over to finish your project the other day." Mrs. Cheng looked away from her daughter over to the calendar on the wall behind her. "How did your project come out by the way?"

"Umm… we didn't get it back yet." Marinette lied quickly. Of course the real reason she had needed to stay over at Adrien's house was because Ladybug had gotten hurt in the fight against Solar Flare when she fell off the roof.

"Well I'm sure you did great." Mrs. Cheng answered as she scanned the dates in front of her.

"I'm sure we did." Marinette smiled, picking her backpack up again. "I gotta get going to school though... Don't want to be late." She hopped down from the stool at the counter then and made her way back to the door.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Mrs. Cheng pointed to the calendar on the wall and looked at Marinette. "Your father wanted me to remind you that you're in charge of the bakery tonight while we're away at the baking convention. You'll have to be home right after school because Dad and I will have to leave right away."

"I know. The bakery is in good hands Mom, I promise." The girl smiled as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders. Her mother smiled.

"I knew we could count on you." She opened the cash register and pulled out some of the money for Marinette. "I'm going to give this to you now so you have emergency money, but you'll get the rest as soon as I go to the bank when we get home."

"I'm not worried about it Mom, I like running the bakery. It's fun!" Marinette smiled, putting the money in her purse. "You know, I was actually wondering if it'd be okay for Adrien to come and keep me company while I frost all the cupcakes and ice the cakes… Mr. Johnson has an order in for a few cakes and one hundred cupcakes that he's picking up first thing in the morning, not to mention all the everyday sweets I need to prepare."

"Well, I don't see why not. I trust you to do the right thing." Mrs. Cheng smiled and went to put two freshly baked croissants in a brown bag for Marinette. "Have a good day at school."

"Thanks Mom." Marinette smiled, waving goodbye as she ran down the street so she would get to school faster. She'd only gotten a block and a half away from her house when she heard a familiar voice calling to her.

"Hey! Do you want a ride?" Adrien called from the window while his car was stopped at a light. His whole face seemed to light up when Marinette turned to look at him.

"That would be great!" Marinette called back to him. Adrien nodded and told his driver to pull over, getting out of the car so he could open the door for Marinette as soon as they were parked.

"My Lady…" He smiled, kissing her hand with a wink, 'My Lady' was something Cat Noir always called Ladybug. Marinette blushed and slid into the car, Adrien followed right after and told his driver they were all set once he closed the door.

"My Mom gave me some croissants from the bakery for us to share…" Marinette told Adrien, holding up the brown bag to show him. "I mean… if you like them… I don't know if you do..." Adrien smiled, covering Marinette's hand with his own to stop her from rambling on nervously.

"I love croissants." He took the bag from her, noticing right away that it was still warm. "Fresh baked?" He asked as he unrolled the bag and split one roll in half.

"Yeah… my Dad gets up early to make them." Marinette explained as she took the half he held out for her. She watched as Adrien took a bite out of his croissant and grinned.

"These are amazing!" He took another bite. "Best in all of Paris!"

"I'm glad you like them." Marinette chuckled, taking a bite of her half then. "If you want, I can show you how to make them. I'm watching the bakery today while my parents are away at a baking convention, they said it'd be okay for you to come over and keep me company… if you want too." She blushed a bit as she waited for his answer.

"I would love nothing more My Lady." Adrien grinned, opening the door once the driver pulled over at the school. "I'll go home during lunch to get a few things, that way I can walk home with you after school." He told her, offering her his hand after she got out of the car.

"Sounds perfect!" She smiled, lacing her fingers comfortably between his as they walked up the stairs. Marinette was too busy thinking about how much fun she and Adrien would be having baking together to notice the stares from their classmates. Nobody besides Marinette's parents knew that Adrien and Marinette were a couple now.

"What is this!?" Alya squealed when the two finally stopped in front of Marinette's locker still hand in hand. Adrien smiled, realizing that this reaction was probably because Alya knew all about Marinette's crush on him.

"I'm just walking my girlfriend to her locker." Adrien told her casually, though the words made his smile grow. Marinette's smile was just as big as Alya took in the sight of them.

"Girlfriend?" Alya giggled, practically bouncing with excitement for her friend. "When did this happen!?"

"On Friday." Marinette answered easily, thinking back to the magical first kiss she and Adrien had shared in her bedroom that day after she'd spilled her second biggest secret to Cat Noir.

"And you didn't think to call your best friend?!" Alya teased. "How did this happen?"

"How did it happen?" Marinette fumbled, she hadn't really thought of what to tell people. She obviously couldn't tell them the truth.

"Marinette told me she liked me when she explained that she was the one who made me my scarf for my birthday." Adrien held up the end of the scarf as if to remind Alya what he was talking about. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief and her smile returned.

"It turns out that Adrien liked me back all this time." She giggled as he pulled her close and kissed the side of her head.

"Aww!" Alya bounced up and down, clapping her hands. "I'm so happy for you two! You're so perfect together!"

"What's all the commotion over here?" Nino asked, coming up to stand beside Alya. He hadn't seen Adrien and Marinette walk in together because he was turning in a late assignment to his teacher.

"Oh nothing." Alya smiled, flipping her hair casually as she tried to contain her excitement. "Adrien and Marinette are a couple now, that's all!"

"Dude!" Nino smiled and punched Adrien's arm playfully, he wasn't as blind to Marinette's crush on Adrien as Adrien himself had been. "That's awesome!"

"I know." Adrien laughed. He was just about to tell Nino all about what happened when the bell rang and the mass rush of students trying to run to their classrooms on time started.

"Aww man." Nino frowned. "I gotta go before I get detention." He sighed. "I'm already in trouble for not passing in a paper on time. Tell me all about this later okay?"

"Yeah." Adrien nodded in agreement as his friend ran off.

"I gotta go too. I have my computer class first and I want to edit some epic pics for the Lady Blog" Alya told them. "You coming Marinette?" She asked, knowing that her friend's classroom was right next door to hers.

"Umm, I'll catch up with you after. I'm going to wait for Adrien to get his things from his locker." She told Alya, who just smiled and nodded before running off down the hall.

"Well that went well." Adrien smiled at Marinette after their friends left. "They seemed to be happy for us." He pointed out as he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend's waist. Marinette smiled and leaned her head against his chest in the now empty hallway.

"I know, but they're not as happy as I am." She smiled.

"I know exactly what you mean." Adrien grinned and tilted her chin up so he could kiss her gently. They were both perfectly content there in each other's arms. They would have stayed there for hours if they hadn't been interrupted.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Chloe yelled, dropping her books all over the floor as she caught sight of Adrien and Marinette. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" She growled.

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 **A/N: So this was chapter one! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

 **New chapters will be up as soon as I can get to them with all the school work I have now. Just so you guys know in advance, I do plan on writing a lot more to this story than I did for 'Behind the Mask'. I hope you like the story. Leave me a review if you'd like, it really makes my day!**


	2. Queen of Broken Hearts part 2

**A/N: Sorry for the long-ish wait on the update, I had to go to a wake and a funeral this weekend and I'm also back in classes now so homework comes first.**

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"Adrikins!" Chloe forced a smile, composing herself quickly as she walked up to the boy and shoved Marinette out of the way. "I must have been seeing things." She told him as she draped her arms over his shoulders and tried to kiss him.

"Chloe stop!" Adrien turned his face away from her so she at least wouldn't be able to reach his lips and gently pried her arms off of him. Chloe pouted at him.

"But, Adrien don't you want to see the super cool present Daddy gave me this morning?" Without waiting for him to give her an answer she held her wrist out, displaying a shiny white gold Tiffany heart bracelet.

"That's nice Chloe." Adrien sighed, walking away from her disinterested as always. "Are you okay?" He asked, going over to Marinette.

"I guess." Marinette frowned, her hand coming up so she could wipe Chloe's lip gloss off Adrien's cheek. Adrien's face fell and he wiped at the spot on his face before pulling Marinette tight against his chest, he didn't want to do anything that would make him lose her.

"My heart belongs only to you My Lady." He whispered in her ear as he held her. Marinette smiled softly and kissed Adrien's cheek as if erasing what Chloe had done.

"I'm not worried, I know how Chloe is." Marinette whispered back. She was happy that Adrien cared so much about her feelings that even an unwanted kiss on the cheek was unacceptable to him.

"Um, excuse me!?" Chloe growled, losing her feigned composure once again. Marinette frowned and turned to look at the girl. "I don't know who you think you are but you need to stay away from him!" She yelled at Marinette, poking her finger into Marinette's shoulder with her bracelet jingling as she did.

"Chloe, stop it!" Adrien frowned. "Marinette is my girlfriend now, I'm not going to let you treat her like this." He crossed his arms, standing partially in between the two girls.

"Girlfriend!?" Chloe shrieked, for a moment she looked appalled before she fell into a fit of laughter. "You've gotta be kidding me! Marinette is nothing!"

"I…" Marinette frowned, the words stung a little bit.

"I mean come on Adrikins! _I'm_ the mayor's daughter, _you're_ the son of a world famous designer and a model! _She's_ nothing more than the help. There's nothing extraordinary about plain old Marinette." Chloe's eyes sparkled in delight as she watched Marinette look at the floor. Adrien glared at her.

"This is exactly why you never stood a chance with me Chloe. You're mean." Adrien glanced back at Marinette, frowning when he saw how upset she looked. He took her hand before he looked back up to Chloe. "Marinette is the sweetest girl I've ever met. She's more special than you'll ever even begin to know." Adrien pushed past Chloe then, pulling Marinette along with him. "Oh one more thing..." He looked back at Chloe for a second. "… stop calling me Adrikins."

"Wha…?" Chloe's jaw dropped as she watched Adrien and Marinette disappear around the corner. How can this be happening to me?!" She seethed. "I'm smarter and prettier and richer than that stupid mouse! Adrien should be mine!"

"It's too easy!" Hawk Moth laughed as he watched over Chloe from his tower. "Chloe's hurt feelings over the boy she likes choosing someone else over her will do nicely in helping me finally get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses!" Hawk Moth held his hand out for a little white moth to land on, once it did he evilized it, turing it into an akuma. He sent it out to find Chloe and waited for it to infect the heart on her bracelet, once it did a pink butterfly outline appeared on both of their faces. "My dear Chloe. How unfair it is that the one you love is with someone unworthy of him."

"I know!" Chloe answered, balling her hands into fists. "If I can't be happy why should she!?"

"I can help you my dear, all I ask in return is that you get me Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses. Can you do that for me?" Hawk Moth asked. Chloe grinned wickedly.

"Yes Hawk Moth!" She told him. Chloe felt more powerful than she ever had before as Hawk Moth let the akuma do its work to transform her. The girl smiled when she saw that her once whole heart charm was now only half of a jagged one.

"From now on you will be known as Queen of Broken Hearts, now go forth and bring me what you promised!" Hawk Moth ordered, watching as Queen of Broken Hearts nodded and raced out of the school to go find Ladybug and Cat Noir.

…

"Marinette?" Adrien asked softly, the girl hadn't said anything to him since they'd gotten away from Chloe. He rested his hand on her knee gently. "What Chloe said isn't true… You know that right?"

"More special than you'll ever even begin to know…" Marinette looked up at Adrien with glassy eyes. "Because I'm… you know…" She frowned and looked away from him, she didn't want him to like her only because she was Ladybug. Adrien realized this right away and chuckled softly.

"No, no, no… you've got it all wrong. You're special all on your own Marinette." Adrien smiled a little bit. "You always think of others, you help people even when it means you're stretched out in a million different directions, and you're sweet. Remember when you brought me those croissants this morning and you were worried I wouldn't like them? That's the kind of thing I meant… not for any other reason."

"You mean it?" Marinette asked, looking back up at him. Chloe had seriously gotten into her head this morning. Adrien nodded and took her hands in his, leaning in close to her so there was no chance anyone would be able to hear him.

"If you lost your Miraculous today and never transformed into Ladybug again I'd still love you more than anyone has ever loved someone before, I promise." Adrien smiled then. "Have I ever lied to you Bugaboo?" Marinette cracked a smile then, blushing slightly.

"Not even once." She answered, looking up at his hauntingly beautiful green eyes.

"Then you can believe me when I say that Marinette is even more special to me than Ladybug herself. Don't let Chloe get in your head." Adrien thought for a second. "You know, now that I think about it I remember her being mean to you a lot."

"Well, yeah." Marinette sighed. "She likes you."

"Well she's gonna have to get over it because I'm all yours and she never stood a chance anyway." He grinned, happy to see Marinette relax a little bit when she heard his words.

"I'm sorry for acting so weird about it." She told him. "I've been afraid of Chloe stealing you away from me for a long time…"

"No explanation necessary." Adrien smiled, waving his hand. "Now, are you ready to go to class?" He asked, getting up from where he was sitting.

"Yeah, let's go." She got up and picked up her bag, following Adrien to class. Nino couldn't help but laugh watching Adrien confidently walk to his seat while Marinette looked less than thrilled to have all eyes on her.

"You're late." The teacher told the two of them. "See me right after class." She said simply before turning back to the board. Things seemed to go back to normal as Marinette took out a pen and started scribbling the words on the board in her notebook, staring at the back of Adrien's head happily during the times she was caught up with her note taking. She couldn't help but think of how happy he made her, as a matter of fact she actually didn't mind Cat Noir's constant flirting anymore either. Marinette had zoned out, blissfully daydreaming through her lecture until suddenly the door slammed open and a girl with bright red and black hair stormed in. Her skirt was littered with a bunch of tiny broken hearts, while her shirt sported one big one. All of the students jumped up, running in any direction they could to get to the door. Queen of Broken Hearts scanned the crowd until she found who she was looking for.

"There you are!" She exclaimed as her eyes fell onto Marinette, Adrien instantly jumped up and went to Marinette's side.

"What do you want from her!?" He yelled at Queen of Broken Hearts, she simply laughed at him, pulling a little heart shaped object from her pocket.

"If I can't have you, nobody can!" She yelled, running towards Marinette getting ready to throw her weapon. Adrien grabbed Marinette by the wrist and pulled her with him to the door.

"We have to go somewhere private!" He yelled to her as they wove their way through the sea of panicked students. Marinette scanned the hallway as they moved, noticing the janitors closet at the last minute. She opened the door and pulled Adrien in behind her by his shirt.

"This will have to do." Marinette whispered, squirming as far into the tiny space as she could so she wasn't right on top of Adrien. She unclipped her purse, hesitating a bit before realizing that there was no time to be shy about transforming right now.

"Plagg! Claws out!" Adrien called at the same time Marinette had called "Tikki! Spots on!" To her Kwami.

"Let's go get this taken care of before she destroys the city." Cat Noir told her, his hand resting on the doorknob. "You ready?"

"Yeah, one thing first though." She smiled, standing on her toes so she could kiss him. "Cat Noir's been waiting a long time for that." She giggled, reaching around him to open the door and let them out. "Now let's go catch ourselves a heart breaker."

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 **A/N: So, I hope you liked it! I'd love it if you decided to leave me a review and let me know if you did! Thanks for reading, new chapter up soon!**

 **Also, a huge thanks to my best friend for helping me figure out Chloe's akumatized character! You know who you are :)**


	3. Queen of Broken Hearts part 3

"Where are they!?" Queen of Broken Hearts screamed, throwing little black hearts towards the students. Whenever one of the weapons hit someone's boyfriend or girlfriend, the affected person instantly declared the relationship was over, breaking the heart of their other half in a fraction of a second. "Where are Marinette and Adrien!?" The villain yelled again, scanning the crowd. Cat Noir and Ladybug looked at each other as they watched the scene unfolding from the roof of the school hidden from view.

"I don't think Ladybug and Cat Noir are going to be able to fix anything this time." Ladybug frowned, watching as yet another couple was broken up in the Queen's tirade.

"Unfortunately, I think you're right." Cat Noir sighed. "One of us needs to change back and distract her while the other tries to get that akuma."

"I'll do it." Ladybug told him without hesitation. "This is Marinette's fault, she needs to fix it... I need to fix it." She stood up then, starting to unclip her yoyo from her hip. Cat Noir pulled her back down to stop her.

"My Lady, you didn't do anything wrong. Chloe's just mad because she didn't get her way this time." Cat Noir smiled at Ladybug then. "Adrien needs to let her know that there's no way she's going to take him from Marinette. Besides, you're the only one that can deevilize an akuma."

"Well…" Ladybug frowned, she didn't like the idea of having to fight without her partner by her side. "If you really think this will work…"

"It will." Cat Noir reassured her, covering her hand with his, squeezing it a tiny bit. "Hey…" He waited until she was looking him in the eye before he continued. "I want you to know that no matter what happens, I love you." He shook his head then, frowning slightly. "My Lady, I promise you that anything I say or do that goes against that is because Queenie down there has me under some sort of stupid spell. I don't care about Chloe at all." He leaned in and kissed her then, reluctantly pulling away only when he heard more screams coming from the ground below. "Remember what I said, I love you." He called to her as he ran to the stairwell. Ladybug frowned as the door swung closed.

"I love you too Kitty." She sighed, going to the side of the building so she could swing down on her yoyo. Ladybug was hoping that maybe she'd be lucky enough to get to Queen of Broken Hearts' akuma before Adrien got involved.

"You're not Adrien or Marinette." Queen of Broken Hearts scoffed as Ladybug landed in front of her. The hero rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, she didn't argue with her about that.

"Why are you spreading heartache and suffering to all of these kids?" Ladybug's eyes widened the tiniest bit when she saw the fire behind the Queen's eyes intensify.

"Because Marinette took Adrien away from me!" She screamed at Ladybug as she fished around in her pocket for more tiny hearts.

"You can't have something taken away that was never even yours in the first place!" Adrien yelled above the noise. Everyone stopped what they were doing then and made a path between the boy and their akumatized classmate. "I love Marinette!" He yelled as he started walking fearlessly up to the Queen, who shoved Ladybug out of the way so she could see. Adrien was standing before her now. "She loves me too you know." He told her, looking her straight in the eye, he was careful not to look at Ladybug.

"Shut up!" Queen of Broken Hearts screamed, stomping her feet as she flung little black hearts at the boy. Adrien dodged each of them just as gracefully as he would have as Cat Noir. With each tiny heart that whizzed by his head, Queen of Broken Hearts got angrier and angrier.

"Is that all you got?" Adrien laughed, bobbing and weaving as the Queen picked up her pace.

"No!" She practically shrieked, stopping for a second to show him that the hearts she had now were red instead of black. With a wicked grin she started throwing them two at a time. "You _will_ be mine!"She yelled. Adrien grinned and reached behind his back, expecting to find his staff. His eyes grew wide as he realized that it wasn't there and remembered that at the moment he was nothing more than Adrien Agreste, a seemingly normal teenage boy.

"Adri…" Ladybug started to scream, before clapping her hands over her mouth, she'd almost forgotten that Ladybug didn't know Adrien. With pained eyes she watched as two of the tiny red hearts hit Adrien and he stopped fighting.

"Adrikins?" Queen of Broken Hearts asked, holding her fire for a moment. The boy sat up and rubbed his head, a soft smile finding his way onto his lips when he caught sight of the villain standing before him. Ladybug felt like she couldn't breathe as she watched the scene unfold, but if she made a move now it would put her secret in jeopardy.

"My Queen." The boy answered flirtatiously. Queen of Broken Hearts smiled triumphantly and offered him a hand up. Ladybug cringed as she watched Adrien kiss the Queen's hand before getting up and pulling her close to his chest like he always would with her. All of the students gasped in shock, asking the question Ladybug couldn't.

"What about Marinette!?" Alya demanded, a look of pure anger written clearly on her face.

"Not cool dude!" Nino added. Adrien looked at the pair for a moment before looking back at Queen of Broken Hearts the way he'd looked at Marinette earlier this morning.

"Marinette means nothing to me now that I have My Queen." He told the girl before leaning in and kissing Queen of Broken Hearts. Ladybug stood there frozen in place for a moment as her heart shattered into itty bitty pieces. When Adrien finally broke the kiss he shared with the equivalent of Chloe, Ladybug felt the sting of tears starting to well up in her eyes and she knew she needed to get out of there before she broke down and people started wondering why. Without thinking she started running, tears blinding her as she got further and further away from the twisted scene. Before long she found herself standing in the alley next to the bakery.

"Spots off, Tikki." She called glumly. The usually cheerful Kwami looked distressed, she hated seeing her best friend hurting like this.

"Marinette, it's because of the akuma." She tried to tell her. Marinette wiped her eyes off on her jacket and fanned her eyes, hoping that she didn't look as bad as she felt. She ignored her tiny friend's words and walked into the bakery with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"There's my girl!" Mr. Dupain smiled.

"Hi Dad." Marinette waved as she made her way up to the counter. Her father put a piece of cinnamon swirl bread on a napkin for her and put it in front of her usual spot at the counter.

"How was school?" Mr. Dupain asked as he filled the display case with the tasty looking treats. Marinette picked apart her bun, nibbling at small pieces.

"My day was just great." She sighed, her voice filled with sarcasm that the man didn't really pick up on because he was so concentrated on making the display perfect.

"That's great, honey." He smiled up at her when he finished placing the last slice of cinnamon swirl in the case. "I really appreciate you taking care of the bakery tonight."

"I know you do Dad." Marinette answered. "I love running the bakery." She told him, trying her best to sound convincing, she didn't especially _love_ anything right now... she felt like her heart was breaking.

"Oh good! You're home." Mrs. Cheng smiled when she noticed Marinette sitting at the counter, she didn't really get a good look at her as she rushed around picking up a few things behind the counter. "Are you almost ready to go?" She asked her husband. "We're already running late." She announced as she struggled with her coat.

"I'm ready now." The man told his wife, going over to help her into the jacket.

"Thank you." She smiled, reaching up to kiss the man on his cheek. Marinette looked away, blinking hard. "Marinette, the emergency numbers are on the corkboard. Call us if you need anything."

"I know what to do Mom." Marinette kept her head down as she jumped down from the counter and hugged her mother and then her father. "Gotta get busy!" She covered as she took her apron off the hook and ducked into the back room. As soon as she was out of their view she allowed a few more tears to spill down her face. She thought enveloping herself in baking would make her forget about Adrien and Chloe, but all she could think about was how Adrien had promised he'd be here with her tonight. After she heard her parents leave she peeked out and saw that the bakery was empty and went to go sit by the cash register. Tikki went to sit by her friend's face then.

"Marinette… it's because of the akuma." The Kwami tried to tell her again.

"It still hurts." Marinette answered flatly. She didn't even move when the bell rang, announcing that a customer had walked in. Tikki quickly hid in Marinette's purse.

"Oh no! I was hoping you hadn't seen what happened when nobody could find you at school!" Alya ran behind the counter and hugged Marinette tight while Nino lingered behind. Marinette sighed and hugged Alya back, she could really use a friend that wouldn't lecture her about akumas right now.

"I was hiding inside… I saw the whole thing from the window." She lied. Alya shook her head.

"I'm so sorry." She told her.

"Adrien doesn't know what he's doing." Nino offered, handing Marinette a napkin from the counter.

"Thanks guys." Marinette sniffled, dabbing at her eyes.

"Don't worry." Alya rubbed her back softly. "When weird things like this happen Ladybug and Cat Noir always show up and fix everything." Alya seemed to be so sure of the idea, but Marinette knew there was no way that Cat Noir would be doing anything to help the situation this time. Tikki was right, she needed to realize this was all because of an akuma.

"If you don't mind watching the bakery for a little bit I'd rather not wait for Ladybug and Cat Noir to fix my problems… I want to talk to Adrien myself." Marinette took a shaky breath, waiting to see what her friends would say. Nino and Alya looked at each other for a moment and shrugged, then looked back at Marinette.

"You got it Marinette." Nino smiled. "Go slap some sense into your boyfriend."

"Thanks guys." Marinette whispered softly as she hugged both of them and grabbed her purse, running out of the bakery with a new found determination. Cat Noir wasn't going to help her this time, if she wanted Adrien back she'd have to go and get him herself.

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 **A/N: So this chapter broke my little heart to write but I felt it was necessary because of Chloe's akuma. I hope you guys enjoyed it, the next chapter should be up soon because I can't be _that_ evil! I'd love it if you left me a review and let me know what you thought! **


	4. Queen of Broken Hearts part 4

Before long Marinette found herself at Chloe's house, she took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A few agonizing seconds passed before an older looking woman opened the door.

"Can I help you with something Miss?" The woman asked, pushing her glasses back up on her nose. Marinette smiled up at her, hoping that she didn't know Chloe was running around as Queen of Broken Hearts lately.

"My name is Marinette… I go to school with Chloe." She told the woman, unfortunately it wasn't enough to get her inside.

"A lot of girls go to school with Ms. Bourgeois." The woman pointed out, starting to close the door over again.

"Wait!" Marinette panicked, she didn't handle situations like these well without the confidence her mask brought her. She took another breath and thought of Adrien… she had to do this for him. "Everyone left school in a hurry today. In all the commotion I think Chloe may have taken something that belongs to me." Marinette worked hard to keep an innocent look on her face, there was no need for this lady to know anything more than that.

"Well…" The woman sighed, opening the door a little bit. "You can come in and see if Chloe has what you're looking for. I think I heard her go up to her room when she got home, but I haven't seen her."

"Thank you!" Marinette grinned, entering the house. "Which way to Chloe's room?" She asked, unsure of where the girl could be in a house this large.

"Upstairs, second to last room on the right." The woman directed her before going back to the task she'd been working on before Marinette had interrupted her.

"Thanks again!" Marinette called as she ran up the stairs two at a time. She had no problem finding Chloe's room, partially because the perfectly white door had a big cursive C on it in a shiny silver color. Marinette hesitated, she didn't know whether she should knock or just go right in. She frowned and squeezed her eyes shut as her hand found the doorknob.

"You can do it." Tikki whispered from inside the girl's purse. Marinette nodded and opened the door to find Adrien sitting alone in the bay window reading a book.

"My Queen?" He asked, looking up when he heard the door. His smile faded into a disappointed look of disgust when he saw who it was. "What are _you_ doing here?" He demanded, putting his book down and standing up. Marinette ignored how his actions tugged at her heart, telling herself over and over in her head that this was all because of Chloe's akuma.

"I came to take you back…" Marinette told him, her hands clenching into fists though she wasn't particularly angry at the moment. "Adrien, you love _me_ , not Chloe." She shook her head. "I know we just technically became a couple on Friday, but we've loved each other for so much longer than that." She took his hand then, her finger gently sweeping over his ring. Adrien didn't seem to understand what she was getting at, the side effect of being hypnotized by Chloe's stupid hearts appeared to be that he didn't remember anything about being Cat Noir. Adrien ripped his hand out of hers and took an angry step back, narrowing his eyes at her.

"You're pathetic! You aren't even worth my love!" He yelled, getting angrier. "I don't know what kind of delusional fantasy world you're living in, but I love Chloe! Not you!" Adrien crossed his arms, looking down at Marinette coldly. The girl felt tears pooling in her eyes, but she refused to let them out. She was about to tell him about Chloe's akuma when she was interrupted by the sound of Queen of Broken Hearts enter the room.

"You heard him." The smug villain grinned. "Adrikins loves _me_ now! You're nothing but a klutzy little annoyance. Nobody really likes you, we all just pretend to be nice because we all feel bad for you." The Queen let out a laugh then, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Face it Marinette, there's nothing special about you!"

"She's right." Adrien agreed, going over to kiss Queen of Broken Hearts on the cheek. The girl gratefully accepted and returned his love with a small kiss in return. Marinette glared at them, she could feel anger starting to bubble up inside of her.

"Now, get out or I'll kick you out!" The Queen shouted, shoving Marinette out of the room and locking the door. Marinette glared at the door, trying to figure out what to do next. She wouldn't go down this easily this time around.

"Marinette, spots on?" Tikki asked after a few minutes passed. The girl nodded once.

"Tikki! Spots on!" She yelled, waiting for her transformation into Ladybug to happen before she kicked the knob off the door and slammed the door open.

"Ladybug?!" Queen of Broken Hearts and Adrien yelled at the same time, surprised by the hero's sudden appearance.

"You've created enough of a mess for one day!" She yelled at the Queen before running towards the girl, her eyes locked on the bracelet hanging from her wrist. The villain side stepped her easily and started walking to the door when a pink butterfly outlining her face stopped her.

"Stop fooling around! Bring me her Miraculous!" Hawk Moth yelled. "Finish her once and for all!"

"You got it!" Queen of Broken Hearts called, spinning around and running towards Ladybug. Ladybug easily avoided her, but ended up right next to Adrien who wrapped his arms around her to keep her still.

"My Queen, I've got her!" He yelled. Ladybug frowned, she didn't want to hurt Adrien while she was trying to save him. She wiggled around in his arms until she freed herself, pushing Adrien away just as Queen of Broken Hearts tackled her. The two girls fought, each trying to gain the upper hand before the other had a chance to win.

"Give me your Miraculous!" The Queen whined reaching for Ladybug's earrings.

"Not today." Ladybug smiled smugly grabbed hold of the bracelet and pulled it from the villain's wrist. "Your heartbreaking days are over!" She told her as she pushed the girl off of her.

"Hey! That's not yours!" Adrien yelled, grabbing it out of her hand. Ladybug sighed and blew a piece of her hair out of her face. She'd seriously had enough of this.

"Seriously? I'm trying to save you!" She told him. "Lucky Charm!" She yelled, smiling as a red and black spotted pillow fell into her hands.

"What are you going to do with that?" The Queen asked smugly. Ladybug just smiled and tore a hole into the pillow and threw it at Adrien. The boy frowned when he caught it and a bunch of feathers flew into his face.

"Adrien is allergic to feathers." She told the villain triumphantly as the boy dropped the bracelet during his sneezing fit. Ladybug went and picked it up while Adrien was distracted by the feathers, twisting the charm off its chain and releasing the akuma.

"No!" Queen of Broken Hearts cried out in horror as she watched the akuma fly out. "It's not fair!" She screamed, stamping her foot.

"Time to deevilize!" Ladybug grinned, swinging her yoyo around until she caught the evil moth, transforming it back to its pure white form. She was quite pleased when she got to throw the pillow up in the air and return everything to normal.

"Ladybug?" Chloe asked when she came to her senses and saw the hero standing in her bedroom. "What are you doing here?"

"Umm…" Ladybug frowned, keeping Adrien to her back as she spoke so she wouldn't have to see him as she explained.

"You tricked Adrien into thinking he was in love with you instead of his girlfriend with the help of an evil butterfly called an akuma." Ladybug sighed and held out Chloe's Tiffany bracelet for her. "This is yours."

"Give me that!" Chloe yelled, grabbing it out of Ladybug's hand. Ladybug sighed, Chloe really wasn't all that much different than the Queen when it came to her bad attitude.

"I have to go now." Ladybug said, her words emphasized by her earrings blinking down to only two spots left. Without another word she started for the door.

"Ladybug, wait!" Adrien reached out for her and grabbed her by the wrist, spinning her so she was facing him. Ladybug looked at the sadness in his bright green eyes and instantly knew just how sorry he was for whatever had happened.

"I have to go before I change back." Ladybug told him softly, smiling as she pulled her hand away slowly, letting the contact remain for as long as possible.

"Go." He told her as he watched her earrings go down to their last spot. "I have to go find Marinette and apologize to her anyway." He sighed softly. "Thanks for saving me Ladybug."

"What's so great about Marinette?!" Chloe asked. Adrien sighed, rolling his eyes at Chloe as Ladybug left the room.

"Tikki, Spots off!" Ladybug called, at the top of the stairs. She waited until she was back to Marinette before she walked downstairs. "Goodbye." She smiled, waving to the woman from earlier as she made her way to the door.

"Did Chloe give you back what you were looking for?" She asked, trying to be friendly.

"She did, thank you." Marinette smiled at her as she left the house, she was in a hurry to get back to the bakery.

"Where have you been!?" Alya asked when Marinette finally walked in the door.

"Why?" Marinette panicked for a second. "Did something happen to the bakery while I was gone?!"

"No, relax Marinette." Nino smiled and came out from behind the counter. "We only had a few people come in actually."

"And now that you're back Nino and I have to go." Alya grinned. "He promised he'd help me with a new site design for the Lady Blog."

"That's fine. Thanks for watching the bakery for me." Marinette hugged Alya and walked her and Nino to the door. "Do you guys want anything for the road?"

"Nah, we're gonna grab some pizza or something." Nino answered, opening the door.

"Bye Marinette." Alya waved as she followed him out. Marinette waved back and then went inside so she could get started on Mr. Johnson's order.

"So, do you feel better now that you defeated Queen of Broken Hearts?" Tikki smiled up at Marinette from her spot on the table in the back room. Marinette smiled as she got the ingredients she needed to start the cupcakes.

"Yeah. I do." Marinette grinned, adding flour into the mixer. "I hope he knows I'm not mad at him." She sighed. "I mean, I think I was just a little shocked at what happened because it was our first fight knowing what we know about each other. It's going to take a little getting used to."

"I know you guys will figure it out." Tikki smiled, dragging a stack of cupcake papers over for Marinette. The girl was about to start putting them in the tray when the bell jingled, signaling that a customer had just walked in.

"Hold on Tikki." Marinette wiped her hands on her apron and went out to the front.

"Marinette…" Adrien frowned when he saw her, he didn't know what to say so he looked at the floor for a minute. When he looked back up at her his eyes looked glassy, like he was trying hard not to cry. "I am so sorry. I don't know exactly what happened, but it's not hard to guess based off what Plagg told me. I never meant to hurt you Mari."

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 **A/N: So there's another chapter down. I hope you liked it, it was a little weird to write Ladybug fighting without Cat Noir fighting by her side. I'll have a new chapter up as soon as I can! Leave me a review if you want to make my day!**


	5. Queen of Broken Hearts part 5

**A/N: I apologize for taking so long to update this, I had a hectic week and didn't really have time for much of anything besides school. Here's a cute little fluffy chapter as a peace offering :)**

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"Adrien…" Marinette walked out from around the counter and went over to him, placing her hands on either side of his face. "I'm not mad at you." She leaned up and kissed him then. "We're okay, I promise." She smiled up at him then, she was genuinely happy to have him back in her arms again and away from Chloe.

"Are you sure?" Adrien asked, he still looked uneasy. "Plagg said you were really upset." Marinette pursed her lips and took his hands in hers. Part of her really wished Plagg hadn't clued Adrien in on what had happened while he was under Chloe's spell.

"We're okay." She repeated. "It was all because of the akuma." She rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb. "Are you alright?" She asked when Adrien dropped his eyes to look at the floor again.

"I…" Adrien took a deep breath. "I just don't want to lose you." He looked up at her then, tears threatening to spill over. Marinette's smile disappeared, her expression turning more serious when she saw how upset he still was.

"Hey…" Marinette wrapped her arms around his waist. "You're not going to lose me okay? There's nothing Chloe, Hawkmoth, or anyone else could do to make that happen alright?" She squeezed him tight, allowing him to hold her for as long as he needed. For a few minutes he said nothing, he simply kept her tucked into his chest, protecting her from anyone who might try to take her from him. He wasn't ready to tell her out loud, but she was the only person who had been able to make him feel genuinely happy inside since he'd lost his mother.

"Thanks for putting up with me." Adrien sighed. "I'm sorry." The boy let her go, rubbing the back of his head as he looked at the floor, he needed something to take his mind off of this. Marinette smiled, she knew just what she needed to do to distract him.

"Come on." She told Adrien, bringing him into the back room with her. "We're going to finish up the cupcakes I was working on, then make those croissants you love so much." She smiled as she watched his mood brighten a bit. "You're going to love this! It's so much fun!" She told him, putting one of the aprons over his head before turning the sink on so she could wash her hands.

"Are you sure about this Mari? I'm not really much of a baker…" Adrien admitted as he tied the back of his apron and came to wash his hands beside her. Marinette smiled at him then, kissing him softly before handing him the towel to dry his hands.

"I believe in you." She grinned, picking up the container of cupcake papers. "Want to put these papers in the cupcake tray for me?"

"That I can manage." Adrien smiled, taking the papers from her. "How many cupcakes are we making?"

"Well, Mr. Johnson has an order in for three cakes and one hundred cupcakes, so we need to fill that order first. On top of that we need to make enough for the everyday stuff in the bakery." Marinette didn't think twice about the number as she filled up plastic bags with the cupcake batter, she was used to this from working with her dad. Adrien turned to look at her.

"My Lady… did you just say we're making over one hundred cupcakes?!" He asked, incredulously. "In one night?!" Marinette laughed when she brought the bags over and saw his face.

"Yes." She giggled softly. "Not to mention all the other treats and pastries we need to make." She smiled at the look on Adrien's face. "You aren't giving up are you Kitty?" Marinette teased.

"No way." Adrien smiled and picked up the pace to get all the papers where they needed to be. He figured that if he could save Paris on a daily basis, he could help Marinette with this task no problem at all. "What do you want done next?" He asked, not expecting her to put one of the filling bags in his hand.

"Watch me." She told him, filling the first row of her cupcake tray before looking up. "That's all there is to it!" She smiled. "Now you." Adrien nodded and went to work on his tray. Marinette watched him fill a couple of the cups, but once she was satisfied that he knew what he was doing she went back to her own tray.

"This isn't so bad!" Adrien smiled, slowly filling his trays. Marinette laughed as she looked over at him, he looked so adorable and he was trying so hard.

"Is there anything you can't do?" She asked, teasing him. Adrien looked over at her, shrugging.

"There are lots of things I'm not good at." He looked down at his tray. "For example, these aren't even at all." He sighed. "Sorry, Mari, I didn't mean to mess them up."

"You didn't mess them up." Marinette shook her head, standing on her toes so she could reach up and kiss him. "They're cupcakes… they don't all have to be the same." She told him before taking the trays to the oven and setting the timer.

"Now the croissants?" Adrien asked. Marinette couldn't help but smile at the hopeful, childlike look on his face.

"Sure, we can make them now." She told him, hearing the bell from the front of the store. "Can you help the customer while I get the ingredients ready?"

"Sure thing My Lady." Adrien smiled, ducking out of the room. Marinette smiled as she watched him disappear, hurrying to get things set up. Once she had everything she thought she needed she double checked the inventory on the counter.

"Where's the flour?" She asked herself, looking by the mixer where the bag usually was.

"You need to open a new bag." Tikki offered from her perch on top of the baking rack. "You used the last of it when you made the batter for the cupcakes."

"Oh, right! Thanks, Tikki." Marinette smiled, going over to the shelving system to pull down a bag. She frowned when she couldn't reach it, trying to stretch as far as she could to get to the top shelf

"Marinette… just get the step stool." Tikki warned. Marinette waved the idea away.

"I can do it." She told her Kwami. Tikki sighed, watching Marinette jump for the flour. Each time she jumped she pulled it a little closer to the edge.

"Marinette, please just get the stool, you're going to make a -" Tikki sighed as Marinette jumped again and the huge bag fell off the shelf and knocked her to the ground in giant puff of white smoke. "- mess." Tikki finished, shaking her head as Marinette coughed.

"I just finished helping the-" Adrien trailed off, stopping in the doorway. "Marinette!?" Adrien was wide eyed as he finally caught sight of Marinette sitting in a pile of white powder. "Are you okay?" He asked as he ran over to her.

"I'm alright." Marinette sighed, shaking some of the flour out of her hair. "I guess I need to clean this up now." She sighed again, reaching over for the dustpan. Adrien couldn't help but laugh as he knelt down to help her clean up. "What?" She asked, looking over to him. Adrien chuckled again trying to gain his composure, now that he knew she was okay he thought it was funny.

"It…" He choked on his own laughter. "It looks like you had a real cat-tastrophe My Lady."

"You did not!" Marinette shook her head at Adrien's pun.

"I gotta say, even with all that flour in your hair you still look purr-fect to me!" He grinned at her. Marinette sighed, shaking her head again as she picked up a handful of flour.

"Haha so funny, Kitty." She rolled her eyes, trying and failing to hold back a smile as she flicked the flour in Adrien's face.

"My Lady! How could you?!" Adrien gasped, feigning shock before falling into a fit of laughter. "You know you love my cat puns." He smiled, poking her in the ribs. "Don't you?"

"No, I don't." Marinette giggled, though they both knew the statement was untrue as soon as she said it. Adrien raised an eyebrow and looked at her skeptically, playing along.

"Are you sure you don't like my puns?" He asked. Marinette smiled and looked at him, fighting to keep from laughing.

"Paw-sitive." She told him, a smart grin crossing her face as he looked at her trying to wrap his head around what she'd just said. They both burst out into a fit of laughter then.

"Marinette!" Adrien's smile grew from ear to ear. "Did you just…" He stopped in the middle of his thought, shaking his head. "I can't believe you just made a cat pun!"

"Yeah, yeah." Marinette blushed slightly, happy she could get such a reaction out of him. "Just help me clean this up!"

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 **A/N: Please pardon the stupid cat puns… I had too… they just make me so happy! Anyway, I hope you liked it. More chapters to come soon. I have some cool villains planned for you guys! Leave a review and let me know what you thought (or yell at me for the cat puns, I deserve that as well).**


	6. Frenemy part 1

**A/N: I know, I know… I haven't updated in forever. Once again I apologize for that, but I don't know if I can even begin to explain my life right now in a way that makes the slightest bit of sense so I'll spare you the details and get on with the chapter.**

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"Uhh…" Marinette groaned as her phone buzzed signaling that it was time to get up for school. She felt like she'd barely gotten any rest at all after dealing with Chloe and all the issues that had come with her akuma, not to mention playing catch up on the bakery orders all night. Without opening her eyes she rolled over and reached for the night table, her fingers wrapping around what she thought was the source of the noise. When she pulled it closer and realized the phone she was holding wasn't hers at all a small smile spread across Marinette's face, she almost forgot Adrien had spent the night. Once she sat up and silenced the alarm on her own phone, Marinette looked down at the boy sleeping comfortably beside her. He looked so peaceful laying there, but they would be late to school again if she didn't get him up.

"Adrien…" She whispered softly, running her fingers gently through his tousled blonde hair. "Hey, wake up…"

"Hmm…" He responded, still mostly asleep as he cuddled into the blankets. Marinette giggled softly, still playing with his hair as she spoke to him.

"We gotta get up." She told him. "We have school today." Marinette watched as Adrien's eyebrows knit together as he registered her words and opened his eyes. When he finally realized where he was he sat up quickly.

"Marinette..." Adrien looked at her with wide eyes. Marinette thought his bewildered expression was absolutely adorable. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep here!" His cheeks went from soft pink to burning red within a matter of seconds, making Marinette laugh.

"You don't have to apologize." She smiled, shaking her head. "It was really late, we both fell asleep playing video games, that's all." She kissed Adrien's temple before getting up, her clothes from the day before all wrinkled from being slept in. Adrien watched her walk across the room thinking about how different she was from his father. When he was younger if he ever so much as even _thought_ about asking his father if he could sleep beside him, even if it was because he had a nightmare or was missing his mom a little more than usual he was reprimanded for it and sent back to his own room.

"Are you sure you're not mad?" He asked, watching as Marinette pulled two different blazers out of her closet, inspecting them both as she tried to decide what she was going to wear that day.

"Why would I be mad Kitty?" She asked, returning one of the jackets to the closet before turning around to look at him. Adrien couldn't think of a good reason why she would be now that he saw the way she was looking at him.

"I umm… I guess I really don't know…" He admitted, running a hand through his hair, laughing nervously. "It's just that my father would have killed me if I ever fell asleep in his room." Marinette shook her head and walked over to him, kissing Adrien gently.

"I love you." She smiled warmly. "You can come fall asleep next to me any time you want. My window is always unlocked so Ladybug can sneak in and out… Cat Noir can use it too."

"Thank you." Adrien smiled back, hugging her tight against him for a few moments before he remembered that they had school. "We should probably get going before we're late."

"Yeah." Marinette laughed. "We should. You can get dressed in here, I'll change downstairs and make us some breakfast."

"Sounds good My Lady." Adrien smiled, kissing the top of Marinette's head before he let her go. Smiling, the girl walked downstairs. Her thoughts were focused solely on Adrien as she hurried to get dressed and made her way to the kitchen to start breakfast. She would have daydreamed about him the entire time she was cooking had it not been for the sound of yelling coming from outside the bakery.

"But Nattie, there was nothing I could do about it! I'm sorry!" Marinette went to look out the window by the sink then, directly below her she saw Nattie and Kimmi, two girls who lived on her street. The two of them were best friends, you never saw one without the other, but today it looked like they were arguing about something.

"You know what? I don't even care anymore Kimmi! Do whatever you want to do!" Nattie threw something at Kimmi and walked away, leaving the girl standing there. For a moment nothing happened, but after a few seconds Kimmi buried her face in her hands, her body shaking as the tears started.

"Oh no…" Marinette frowned and hurried downstairs, going out to meet Kimmi on the sidewalk. "Kimmi?" She walked up to the crying girl, concern written clearly on her face. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright!" Kimmi sniffled, looking over at Marinette. "Nattie hates me!" She squeaked, more tears spilling over as she opened her palm to reveal a bright pink friendship bracelet with a tiny moon on it engraved with the word 'best' in cursive lettering. Marinette noticed that Kimmi wore a matching one with the word 'friends' written on her moon.

"Oh…" Marinette pursed her lips, she didn't really know what to say to make the girl feel better since she'd never really gotten into a fight with her own best friend before. "Do you want to talk about it? You can splash some water on your face and I can get you something to drink.

"Okay…" Kimmi agreed, nodding her head. Marinette smiled encouragingly and guided her inside, she got the girl a water bottle from the fridge and sat across from her. "So, what happened?"

"I…" Kimmi closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "I was trying to-" She stopped talking when she noticed Adrien.

"Mari?" Adrien poked his head out the door, surprised by what he saw when he finally noticed the two girls. "Oh… Kimmi? Are you alright?"

"No!" She yelled, hopping down from her seat. "I see you have more important friends to talk to now, Marinette. Thanks for the water." Kimmi said, making her way towards the door.

"Kimmi, wait!" Marinette tried, but the girl didn't want any part of it.

"I just want to be left alone okay." Kimmi sniffled, her lip quivering as she left the bakery and ran back in the direction of her house. She didn't look back to see if Adrien or Marinette had tried to follow her as she slammed the front door shut and hurried up to her room, flinging herself onto the bed. She was absolutely crushed by Nattie's hurtful words, she didn't even see how she had been wrong in the first place. "Ahh! I wish I'd never even been friends with her in the first place!"

"Excellent!" Hawk Moth smiled as his big window opened and his akumas fluttered around him. "Disagreements between best friends are the perfect breeding grounds for hurt feelings and despair! I can use this to finally get my hands on the Miraculouses of Ladybug and Cat Noir!" Hawk Moth smiled and sent one of his evil butterflies out to infect the friendship bracelet that Nattie had thrown at Kimmi. Once the akuma was in place, he allowed a pink butterfly to appear on both his and Kimmi's faces.

"Huh?" Kimmi sat up a bit in her bed, surprised by the sudden presence she felt.

"My dear Kimmi, I am Hawk Moth. I know about the horrible and unforgivable things your friend Nattie said to you this morning and I want to help."

"Don't call her that." Kimmi growled. "There's no such thing as friendship as far as I'm concerned and I wish everyone else knew it too!"

"I understand completely. I can help you get what you want if you simply help me in return." Hawk Moth smiled, gripping the top of his cane in triumph as Kimmi grinned evilly.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked, clenching her fists tightly.

"I want you to destroy the ultimate best friend team of Ladybug and Cat Noir." Hawk Moth grinned wickedly at the idea. "Bring me their Miraculouses and we'll put an end to them once and for all!"

"Consider it done!" Kimmi answered as she jumped up off her bed and let akuma's magic finish transforming her into an evil villain.

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 **A/N: So, hopefully that chapter was okay. I'm not really sure you guys will like it, but I kind of do. Reviews to let me know what you thought? Maybe?**


	7. Frenemy part 2

**A/N: I'm sorry for not updating for a little while… I'm in a really fast paced program for college and we were doing final papers and projects. I know… excuses, excuses… I'm back now though.**

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"I hope Kimmi's going to be okay." Marinette sighed, taking her assigned seat behind Adrien when the couple finally made it to school.

"Me too." Adrien agreed. "I hope we don't have to deal with it later if you know what I mean…"

"Well that's a little insensitive." Nino interrupted just as Marinette was about to agree with her boyfriend. "What did Kimmi ever do to you?" He asked as he slid in beside Adrien. Adrien frowned slightly, trying to think of a logical excuse.

"Uh… what Adrien meant to say was that he hopes Kimmi is feeling a little bit happier later on. He doesn't want her to be feeling down all day."

"Yeah!" Adrien smiled. "That's exactly what I meant to say!" He laughed a little. "It was pretty late by the time Mari and I finished cleaning up last night, I guess I'm just tired."

"Cleaning up?" Nino asked. Marinette blushed slightly, thinking back to the mess of flour that had been all over her, the floor, and seemingly everything else in the bakery.

"Yeah, one of the bags of flour exploded." Adrien looked at Marinette, his expression tried to show accusation, but instead he just ended up smiling at her and shaking his head. "What am I going to do with you My L... Marinette?"

"Who's L... Marinette?" Alya teased, catching only the end of the conversation as she slid onto the bench beside her best friend. Marinette smiled and easily changed the subject.

"I thought I was supposed to be the late one." She teased her friend, elbowing her playfully. Alya was about to respond when a chorus of ear piercing screams sounded in the next classroom over. Marinette immediately stood up. "I uh… I just remembered I left my homework in my locker!" She lied, hurrying towards the door.

"Umm… wait up! I'll help you get it!" The boy told her, running to catch up. When they got in the hall and rounded the corner that led to the classroom in question they found that the source of all the commotion was a girl wearing a midnight blue dress with lighter blue and purple netting under the skirt that made the short hem poof out like a tutu. As soon as the pair noticed the matching bracelets the girl wore they realized the villain had to be Kimmi.

"Looks like we had to deal with it later." Marinette sighed, thinking back to what Adrien had said earlier. "You ready?" The girl asked. Adrien nodded, pulling her into an unoccupied classroom with him.

"Time to transform!" Adrien yelled. "Plagg, Claws Out!"

"Tikki! Spots On!" Marinette called to her own Kwami at the same time. It didn't take long before both heroes were transformed and ready to fight.

"After you My Lady?" Cat Noir smiled, holding the door open for Ladybug.

"My Lady?!" A familiar voice squealed. Moments later a cell phone was shoved in Cat Noir's face. "Are you and Ladybug more than just good partners?!" The phone found its way over to Ladybug. "Do you have a pet name for Cat Noir?!"

"Woah, woah, woah." Ladybug held her hands up in surrender. "Calm down… maybe Cat Noir and I will have time to talk to you _after_ we take care of the girl terrorizing your classmates in the other room."

"Excellent idea Bugaboo." Cat Noir smiled and took Ladybug by the hand, pulling her past Alya and out into the hallway. "Talk to you after…" Cat Noir called to Alya, he wasn't expecting her to follow after them.

"Alya, it's too dangerous for you to follow us!" Ladybug said, trying to get her friend to actually listen this time.

"Nuh uh!" Alya shook her head with a smile. "You guys should know by now that wherever you go, I go. I gotta give people the latest Ladybug scoops on my-"

"Ladyblog, I know…" Ladybug sighed.

"My Lady!" Cat Noir yelled, moving to stand in front of the two girls. When Ladybug turned around she saw an army of people all dressed in the same dark colors as the villain.

"Ooooh this is bad." Ladybug frowned, crouching into a fighting position beside Cat Noir. "Kimmi! I know you're upset right now, but terrorizing the other students here isn't going to make you feel better."

"Kimmi's not here anymore!" The girl grinned. "I am Frenemy now! Hand over your Miraculouses and maybe I'll think about letting you two remain friends!"

"Wait…" Cat Noir relaxed his stance a bit. "Frenemy? Hawk Moth needs some serious help coming up with names for you guys."

"Shut up you stupid cat!" Frenemy growled, holding her hand out towards him. Within a second a bright purple stream of energy came flying towards him.

"Kitty!" Ladybug yelled, shoving Cat Noir towards the lockers, falling on top of him in the process. Cat Noir smiled for a second as he peered up at her.

"Oh how the tables have turned." He teased, though his joking didn't last long when he realized what had happened as a result of Ladybug pushing him out of the way. "Alya…" He whispered.

"What?" Ladybug frowned, looking over her shoulder to find that her best friend was now wearing the same uniform as all the other victims of Frenemy's wrath. "Alya! No!" The hero ran over to her friend and placed her hands on either shoulder. "Alya, come on! I know you're not evil!"

"Get her Miraculous! The earrings!" Frenemy yelled to Alya. Alya grinned wickedly and held Ladybug's wrist tight, reaching for the earrings with the other hand.

"Hey…" Cat Noir pulled Ladybug backwards just out of Alya's reach. "…sorry to interrupt, but I need to borrow Ladybug for a second."

"Get them!" Frenemy yelled to her minions. She watched with a scowl as they all scattered and ran towards Ladybug and Cat Noir.

"We need a plan…" Cat Noir yelled, taking a fighting stance as he took his stick off his belt.

"Yeah… but let's come up with that plan somewhere else." Ladybug backed up a few steps and pulled Cat Noir back towards her by his tail. Once he was close enough she wrapped her arm securely around his waist and threw her yoyo out the window, waiting a second before tugging on it and pulling them to safety.

"Now what?" Cat Noir sighed once they were safely away from Frenemy and her army of less than thrilled friends. "We can't run forever."

"I know." Ladybug frowned slightly. "I just think it would be easier if we fought her without having to go through twenty other people."

"Good point… I think I have an idea."

* * *

 **A/N: Again I'm really sorry for not updating in a while... I'm hoping I can post on this story at least once a week at the moment. That being said leave me some feedback and let me know what you thought if you want to! Thanks for reading! New chapter coming within the week.**


	8. Frenemy part 3

"You know, I gotta say this is actually one of your better ideas, Kitty."

"Why thank you My Lady." Cat Noir grinned, ringing the doorbell a second time while he waited impatiently for someone to answer. A few moments passed before the pair heard footsteps followed by the sound of the deadbolt turning and the door being opened.

"Ladybug and Cat Noir?" Nattie asked, a look of confusion crossing her face. "What are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be chasing down the psycho who decided to terrorize my class this morning?"

"That's why we're here actually. Turns out that 'psycho' is your best friend." Cat Noir explained. Nattie's eyes went wide with shock for a moment.

"Kimmi?" She whispered before she remembered she was supposed to be mad at the other girl and her expression hardened into a look of annoyance again.

"So what do you say? You wanna help me and Ladybug save Paris today?" Cat Noir asked her with his signature smart looking grin. Ladybug shook her head, her boyfriend's 'bad boy' charm wasn't exactly the sympathetic approach they needed to use in order to get through to Nattie.

"No thanks." The girl answered flatly, closing the door in their faces. Cat Noir stared blankly at the door for a second before turning to Ladybug with a more Adrien-like expression.

"Well that could have gone better." He admitted, rubbing the back of his head. Ladybug rolled her eyes and stepped up to the door, pressing her ear against it to listen for a moment.

"Nattie?" She paused for a second before continuing. "I don't know what you and Kimmi were fighting about, but I do know that whatever it was, it hurt your best friend so much that it allowed evil into her heart… The bond between best friends is a very powerful tie. You shouldn't throw away what you have with Kimmi because of some stupid fight. Your best friend needs you now, Nattie." Ladybug held her breath and took a step back, hoping the door would open. A long silence passed as the hero stood on the doorstep waiting.

"You tried your best." Cat Noir told her, resting his hand on her shoulder. Ladybug covered his hand with her own and looked up at him, disappointment shining clear in her deep blue eyes.

"Yeah... I guess we should go try to fix this on our own then." Ladybug sighed and started to walk back down the stairs, still holding Cat Noir's hand.

"We've never needed anyone else's help before My Lady, I'm sure we'll be…" Cat Noir was interrupted by the sound of Nattie's front door opening and the girl rushing outside after them.

"Wait!" Nattie chewed on her lip when the pair of heroes turned to look at her. "Ladybug, you're right! I do want to help Kimmi! I can't stay mad at her… especially because the fight was my fault anyway." She explained quickly. "Can I please help you save my best friend? Please?"

"Sounds good to me. What do you think Bugaboo?" Cat Noir smiled when he looked down at the pleased look on Ladybug's face. It had always made him happy to see that his favorite girl was happy.

"We need to hurry before things get even more out of control than they already are." Ladybug turned to look at Cat Noir. "I'll meet you back at the school, Kitty." Ladybug waited for him to nod and take off before wrapping her arm around Nattie's waist and using her yoyo to get them to the school as quickly as possible. They ended up arriving a minute or two after Cat Noir.

"They aren't here anymore!" Cat Noir told Ladybug when he heard her and Nattie running through the hall to meet up with him.

"What do you mean she's not here anymore?" Nattie asked, concern written clear on her face. "We need to find her!"

"You need to stay calm." Ladybug told her. "We're going to find her and everything will work out, I promise."

"Is there anywhere you can think of that Kimmi might have gone?" Cat Noir asked, turning to look at Nattie. Nattie thought for a moment before a look of realization crossed her face.

"The fountain in the park!" She exclaimed, suddenly looking highly optimistic. "Whenever she's really upset she likes to go sit there and watch the birds splashing around in there." Nattie started off down the hall then. "Come on!" She yelled back to them not slowing down for a second.

…

"Kimmi!" Nattie yelled, not wasting any time in making her presence known once she arrived at the park. The villain stopped, turning around slowly from her perch on top of the fountain.

"YOU!" Frenemy growled, pointing at Nattie. Ladybug and Cat Noir ran up beside her looking at the much larger army of minions the villain had managed to put together.

"Ladybug and Cat Noir too?" The villain shrieked and looked at her pawns. "GET THEM!" She ordered, pointing to the trio. "Leave the one in the middle for me!" The poor civilians who'd been affected by Frenemy's powers rushed towards them.

"Nino?!" Cat Noir questioned, completely shocked as his best friend unknowingly attacked him along with a few other people. Within seconds Nino had effectively restrained him because the Adrien side of the hero couldn't risk hurting his friend. Meanwhile, Ladybug was trying to fend off twenty people on her own and wasn't doing very well now that she was surrounded in the middle of all the chaos.

"Ladybug! Do something!" Nattie cried as Frenemy jumped off the top of the fountain and perched herself on the edge as she menacingly glared down at her former best friend.

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug called, tossing her yoyo into the air. Seconds later a postcard came floating down to her. "A postcard from summer camp?"

"What are we going to do, send Frenemy's army on an early summer vacation?"

"No, Cat Noir…" Nattie looked over at Ladybug and held her hand out, taking a few steps over to the spotted hero. "Let me see that."

"Nattie, now's not really the time to be writing letters to your friends from camp!" Cat Noir complained, struggling against Nino's tight hold. Nattie shook her head, a small smile starting to form on her face.

"No…" She held her hands up in surrender and slowly made her way towards the akumatized girl standing on the edge of the fountain. "I met Kimmi at summer camp." Nattie explained, holding the postcard out for the other girl to see. "Camp Woodrock… remember? That's where we made our friendship bracelets." For a moment it looked like Frenemy's powers started to weaken, and her army slowly dissipated into a crowd of confused people.

"Whoa! Cat Noir?" Nino quickly released the hero and looked at him apologetically. "Sorry, dude… don't know what happened there."

"No problem!" Cat Noir grinned. "Now if you'll excuse me, My Lady needs me!" Cat Noir ran over to Ladybug then used his staff to hurdle over the loose circle of people still surrounding Ladybug as they tried to figure out what had happened to them."

"Kitty!" Ladybug looked worried. "I don't have much time left."

"I know." He nodded, using his stick to carry them over the crowd again. "Nattie, we need to destroy the bracelet in order to get the akuma!"

"Wait, what?!" The villain's anger started to return as she realized her friend had just been trying to take her powers away the whole time.

"Cat Noir! The fountain! Use your Cataclysm!" Ladybug yelled. Cat Noir nodded and grinned wickedly.

Cataclysm!" He yelled, taking a running start before sliding between the two girls so he could destroy the base of the fountain beneath Frenemy's feet. The villain teetered backwards and fell into the water with a large splash and Nattie took advantage of the moment by ripping the infected bracelet off her friend's wrist.

"Ladybug!" She yelled, tossing the trinket through the air.

"Got it!" Ladybug smiled, dropping it on the ground so she could crush it beneath her foot. Once the bracelet was destroyed the evil butterfly flew out and Ladybug worked quickly to purify it. "I gotta go Kitty! I'll see you later okay?" When she got a smile and a tiny nod from Cat Noir she hurried to find a safe place to transform before her transformation wore out.

"No way!" A voice from behind Cat Noir gasped. "Did she just call you Kitty?" Alya giggled. When Cat Noir turned around the girl's phone was in his face. "Didn't you call her My Lady or Buggy earlier?"

"Uh..." Cat Noir laughed nervously. "Slow down, one question at a time!"

"Why did she call you Kitty?" Alya pressed, moving her phone even closer. Cat Noir sighed, he honestly didn't know what to do about these sorts of questions.

"I guess for the same reason I call her Bugaboo." Cat Noir answered carefully. Alya was practically bouncing with excitement at this point.

"Are you and Ladybug dating?!" The girl seemed to hold her breath as she waited for her answer. Cat Noir chewed on his lip for a second before his ring reminded him he only had a limited time left in his hero form.

"Yes… Ladybug and I are a couple." Cat Noir smiled slightly.

"No! Really?!" Alya said in disbelief, completely thrilled by the news. "Are you guys dating in your civilian forms too?!"

"Uhh…" Cat Noir fumbled, he knew this little tidbit was more than he should be sharing. Luckily his ring saved him. "I actually have to go now. Maybe some other time!" With that Cat Noir left so he could safely transform back and meet up with Marinette at the bakery. When he walked through the door, the girl was on the phone.

"Oh, Adrien actually just walked in. Hold on…" Marinette switched her phone onto speaker and set it on the counter. "Okay, you're all set."

"Oh my God! You guys are never going to believe what just happened to me! Cat Noir was talking to me after Ladybug had to go and he told me that he and Ladybug are a couple! Can you believe it!?"

"No." Marinette looked over at Adrien and choked back laughter. "I had no idea that Cat Noir and Ladybug were dating."

"I know right!" Alya gushed. "I can't wait to upload my video onto the Ladyblog!"

"I'm sure your fans are going to love it." Adrien smiled, playfully bumping his arm into Marinette's. "Mari and I can't wait to see it!"

"I'm going to! I just need to figure out what their power couple name is." Alya squealed in delight. "Ahh! I'm so excited! I'll call you back as soon as the video is up!"

"Power couple name?" Adrien asked as soon as Marinette ended the call making them both giggle wildly behind counter. The only thing that interrupted them was the bell ringing as Kimmi and Nattie walked inside the bakery arm in arm.

"Hey Marinette." Kimmi smiled. "Can we get two scones?"

"Sure." Marinette smiled. "So you guys figured everything out?" She asked when she noticed the matching bracelets hanging from each girl's arm.

"Yeah. Everything's good now." Nattie smiled. "It's not worth losing my best friend over some silly fight."


	9. The Authority part 1

"Marinette!" Adrien called from down the hall. "Marinette, wait up!" He called again as he picked up his pace, running towards her, when Marinette finally heard him she stopped walking and turned to wait for him.

"Hey." She smiled up at him, wrapping her arms around his waist in an effort to bring him closer to her. "What's the rush?" She asked, waiting a moment for him to catch his breath.

"My father invited me to his dinner party tonight!" Adrien's grin stretched from ear to ear, and as soon as Marinette heard what he'd said she had a smile to match. It wasn't every day that Mr. Agreste invited his son to join him for dinner.

"That's great news!" She threw her arms around the boy, squeezing him tight. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks, but are you sure you'll be able to manage patrol without me tonight?" The way the blonde boy looked down at Marinette told her that all she had to do was say that she couldn't patrol all of Paris on her own and he would willingly give up his night with his father for her. It was comforting to know that Adrien cared so much about her, but Marinette would never take something so special away from him.

"I think Ladybug can manage for the night." Marinette smiled, watching as Adrien's eyes lit up.

"You're the best!" Adrien grinned, picking her up and twirling her around before kissing her softly, he was in an exceptionally good mood because of the situation. "I'll walk home with you, but I don't have time to stay today."

"Totally understandable." Marinette chuckled and grinned wickedly. "I know Mr. Model thinks he needs extra time to try and fix something that's already perfect." Adrien laughed and shook his head, slipping his fingers in between hers as they started towards Marinette's place.

"I wish my father would have invited you to his dinner tonight too." Adrien said when they finally stopped in front of the bakery. "I'll ask him if you can come to the next one… whenever that's going to be." Marinette smiled and put her hand on Adrien's shoulder.

"Hey, someone needs to watch over the city don't they?" The girl smiled. "I know you're going to have a great time tonight."

"You're right." Adrien smiled down at her, he knew the city would be in good hands with Ladybug.

"I always am, aren't I?" She teased, laughing before the alarm on Adrien's phone went off and reminded her that he had somewhere else to be. "Go… Before you're late." She told him, pushing at him with an excited smile on her face. "I expect to hear all about it when I see you again."

"I know." Adrien leaned down to kiss Marinette softly one more time before he reluctantly pulled away and took a few steps backwards, starting to leave.

"I love you Kitty." Marinette called to him as she opened the door to the bakery.

"I love you more Mari." He laughed, waving as he watched her disappear from view.

…

"I'm so excited that I finally get to come to one of Mr. Agreste's dinner parties!" A young designer, Michael gushed as he and his parents made their way to the Agreste mansion in their family's personal limousine.

"It is quite an honor, son. I'm proud of you." Michael's father, Michael Senior, answered, clapping his son on the back. "You are doing quite well for yourself."

"Thanks, Dad." The sixteen year old boy smiled.

"Look! There it is!" Maurine, the boy's mother, exclaimed. "It's even bigger than our home!" She noticed, quite surprised by the delicate architecture that made up the Agreste manor. It wasn't long after the family arrived that their driver let them out and one of Mr. Agreste's employees guided them to the dining area where a few guests were already trying to find their seats.

"Mr. and Mrs. Judorr?" Michael asked, confused when he found his parent's place holders, but not his own. "What about me? Where's my placard?" Nathalie noticed the disruption from where she was standing in the doorway.

"Young Mr. Judorr, excuse me for the interruption, but your place setting will be down at the other end of the table with the rest of our minor aged guests." Mr. Agreste's assistant explained. "I would be more than happy to assist you in finding your seat."

"But…" Michael looked at his mother and father for support but the apologetic looks on their faces begged him to do as the woman asked. "I mean… that would be great. Thank you miss." Reluctantly and with great disappointment, Michael sat in his assigned chair. He sat quietly, only saying hello when another child joined him at the table. It didn't take much longer for the rest of the dinner guests to arrive, once everyone was seated Nathalie came back in to announce Mr. Agreste and his son.

"It is my great honor to have you all here tonight. My son and I thank you for coming." Mr. Agreste said as a way of greeting everyone.

"Where is he going?" Michael muttered under his breath as he watched Adrien follow Mr. Agreste to the head of the table. "How come he gets to sit there?!" He scoffed as he watched Adrien take his seat to the right of his father. Michael speculated that the blonde boy sitting at the table couldn't be any older than he was himself, in fact Adrien had to be at least a year or two younger. Anger started to bubble up inside of the boy as he watched the kitchen staff come out and start serving the adult table, so despite his better judgement, Michael stood up.

"Michael!" Mrs. Judorr hissed in a hushed voice as her son walked past her and her husband. "Get back to your seat!" His mother's displeasure increased the distraught emotions Michael was already feeling and he whirled around. "Why does that… that… _child_ get to sit at the table with the rest of the adults!?" Michael shouted, pointing his finger in Adrien's face. "It's not fair! Why should he get special treatment?" He asked, again spinning around, this time to face Mr. Agreste.

"Father, look out!" Adrien cried as he watched Michael knock into one of the wait staff who was holding a bowl of hot soup. Both boys watched helplessly as the dish landed in Mr. Agreste's lap.

"Ahh!" Mr. Agreste yelled out in pain as the liquid scalded his lap. "Get out!" He screamed at Michael. "When you are successful enough to have your own dinner parties, you can set up the seating arrangement however you see fit! You are a guest in _my_ home, you should show some respect and do as you are told, child! Remember your place!" Mr. Agreste shook his head and turned his attention on the rest of his guests. "I deeply apologize for my behavior, please excuse me for just a moment so I can go change into something a little less wet." With that Mr. Agreste stood and walked calmly to the doorway, pausing when he was beside Nathalie. "See to it that Young Mr. Judorr is not here when I return."

"Yes, sir." Nathalie nodded, signaling to Gorilla that his assistance was required.

"Hey!" Michael complained. "Let me go!" The boy cried as the large man took hold of his shoulder and led him out. The man didn't say a word as he pushed Michael out the front door and locked him out. "It's not fair!" Michael grumbled as he stared at the door keeping him out of the fancy dinner that was supposed to honor him as one of the potential junior designers to Mr. Agreste's fashion line. "Adults never listen!" He shouted as he ripped his tie off and clenched it in his fist, turning to sit down at on the first step.

"Michael, I am Hawk Moth." A voice suddenly informed the boy. "I understand that the tyranny of adults has left you sitting out in the cold whilst the older members of your family are enjoying a nice warm meal courtesy of a well-respected man in the world of fashion."

"Adults run everything!" Michael agreed.

"Well, I could change all that. Age is but a number my dear boy and I am offering you the chance to change that number in your favor. I am offering you a chance to become The Authority… but only if you are willing to do something for me in return."

"Name it." Michael grinned, balling his hands into fists.

"I will need you to bring me Ladybug's earrings and Cat Noir's ring. Do you think you can manage that?" Hawk Moth held his breath waiting for his answer.

"It'll be like taking candy from a baby." Michael answered, standing up as the akuma's evil powers spread from the fabric in his tie to the rest of his body.

…

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" Ladybug asked herself as she caught sight of The Authority roaming an empty street almost an hour later. Without hesitation she dropped down from the rooftop she was on and put her hands on her hips. "Seems a little late for a stroll, no?"

"Ladybug!" The Authority spat through his teeth, he was done dealing with the oppression of people who thought they were in charge and in his mind superheroes definitely fell into that category.

"Yup, that's me." Ladybug answered, her voice laced with the level of sass one might expect from Cat Noir. "And who are you supposed to be?"

"I am The Authority!" The villain growled, clenching his fists into tight balls. "I'll be the one asking the questions here… and you know, now that I really think about it, I don't like your attitude!"

"My attitude?" Ladybug asked, looking confused. "I don't get it…"

"Well maybe a little trip down memory lane will help you remember!" The Authority yelled as he pulled at his tie and a bright beam of light came out.

"Ahh!" Ladybug yelled, jumping out of the way at the last possible second. Her escape only seemed to make the villain angrier as he lifted off the ground and levitated above her, pulling on his tie again.

"Stay still! I didn't tell you to move young lady!" The Authority called when the girl rolled out of the way of the second beam. Unfortunately for Ladybug, she'd rolled up against one of the fences of a nearby house and she was cornered. "Now I've got you!" The villain laughed, hitting her with another flash of light.

"No!" Ladybug started to panic as she de-aged back to a toddler no more than three or four years old.

"That'll teach you!" The Authority shouted at the scared little hero. The poor thing didn't seem to understand anything that was going on anymore. Her lip quivered in fear and tears threated to spill out as a bright pink butterfly crossed over the villain's face.

"Excellent work! Leave her here and soon Cat Noir will show up to help his beloved partner!" Hawk Moth cackled in delight. "It's too easy! Once you bring me their Miraculouses you will never have to answer to anyone ever again!"

"Can't wait." The Authority answered to Hawk Moth. "I'll be seeing you again soon, _Littlebug_!" He laughed maniacally before flying off into the night and leaving the young Ladybug all alone on the dark street by herself.

"Mama?" Ladybug squeaked, taking a few cautious steps away from the fence, tears spilling down her face as she realized she was lost and all alone. "Papa?" She sniffled, more tears starting to fall as she started to see there was nobody there to keep her safe in the scary darkness of the night.

* * *

 **A/N: I might try to update again tomorrow since I don't have so much homework to deal with this week.**


	10. The Authority part 2

"Well that could have gone better." Adrien sighed, letting himself fall down onto his bed after a long night pretending his father hadn't made dinner awkward for everyone. The worst part were the sympathetic looks the other younger guests had given him on their way out at the end of the night.

"Well I wouldn't know, you wouldn't let me come." Plagg complained as he floated across the room so he could sit on Adrien's pillow. "Did you guys have any Camembert at this fancy food party?" The little Kwami asked, peaking into Adrien's shirt pocket for a treat.

"No. We didn't have any of your rancid cheese." Adrien sighed, getting up to get his Kwami a piece of Camembert from the mini fridge in the corner of the room.

"So tell me all about it!" Plagg prompted Adrien as he started to nibble on his snack.

"Oh! That reminds me!" Adrien pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I was going to call Mari and tell her how dinner went too!" Just the idea of talking to Marinette was enough to brighten his mood a bit. Plagg waited patiently for the girl to pick up so Adrien would tell them both about dinner, but almost a minute passed before Marinette's voicemail picked up. "She should be done patrolling by now shouldn't she?" Adrien asked, hanging up the phone.

"Maybe she ran into one of Hawk Moth's victims?" Plagg offered. Adrien frowned then, thinking of how angry Michael had looked when he was thrown out of the house.

"You know what? I think you might have a point." Adrien got up and walked to the window and looked out at Paris for a moment before turning to Plagg. "Time to transform! Plagg, Claws Out!" The boy didn't waste any time after he was transformed to slip out the window into the darkness of the night. He took to the roofs, looking for any signs of trouble in the streets. It didn't take long for him to see the chaos that was left behind from Ladybug's struggle against The Authority. Cat Noir easily made his way down from the roof and looked around. His heart nearly fell out of his chest when he saw the terrified looking little girl sitting on the curb. "Ladybug?" He whispered, causing the girl to stand up and take a few fearful steps back.

"Let me be!" The tiny hero squeaked out, tears slipping down her face as she carefully watched him. Cat Noir held his hands up in surrender so he wouldn't scare her, but in his mind he was absolutely furious at who ever had done this to her. There wasn't a question in his mind that he was going to make that person pay not only for making his Lady cry, but for leaving her unprotected out in the street where anything could have happened to her.

"Don't you remember me Princess?" He asked gently, taking extra care to push his angry feelings aside for the moment. "I'm Cat Noir…" He prompted, watching the little girl try to sort things out in her mind. "We fight crime together to make sure Paris stays safe. We actually make a really good team without our masks as well. I'm your partner."

"You my Kitty Cat?" The toddler asked, a quizzical look finding its way onto her face as she tried to think. Cat Noir nodded and crouched down so he was more her size.

"Yes, I'm your Kitty Cat." He couldn't help but laugh a little bit as he realized if anyone other than Ladybug or Marinette tried to call him a Kitty Cat he wouldn't find it so amusing.

"I not remember that much..." Ladybug whispered, pulling on her ponytails as she tried to think.

"It's okay if you don't remember right now, I'm going to make sure this all gets sorted out as soon as I can okay?" Cat Noir held one hand out for her. "I promise I won't let anything or anyone hurt you… All you have to do is trust me. Can you do that for me Princess?" Ladybug hesitated for a moment before running into his arms and hugging him tight around his waist.

"I trusts you Kitty Cat." She whispered, resting her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. Ladybug felt safe and protected there, like somehow she just knew that this person wasn't going to hurt her.

"It's all going to be okay." Cat Noir whispered to her.

"Well, well, well!" An unfamiliar voice interrupted. "If it isn't Fleabag and Littlebug!" Ladybug stiffened when she heard the voice causing the anger Cat Noir had pushed to the side earlier to bubble up again.

"Kitty Cat, I scared." Ladybug whispered, trembling slightly against Cat Noir's chest as a few tears slipped down her cheeks. Cat Noir took a deep breath and focused on Ladybug for a second, she was and always would be his first priority.

"I know you're scared, but I'm not going to let him touch you, I promise." Slowly, Cat Noir stood up and pushed Ladybug behind him. "Did you do this to her?" The boy shouted, his hands clenching into fists as a wicked grin started to spread across The Authority's face.

"So what if I did?" The villain scoffed. "And now I'm going to do the same thing to you!" The Authority pulled on his tie, sending a beam of light towards the boy. Cat Noir didn't flinch, he knew if he moved there was a chance Ladybug would get hurt, so instead he took out his staff, twirling it around fast enough to deflect the beam.

"You made her cry. That's not okay with me." Cat Noir growled, walking forward in a straight line so that Ladybug was never exposed to an attack.

"I don't appreciate your tone of voice!" The Authority yelled getting ready to send another beam towards Cat Noir. Normally, the threat of being victimized by one of Hawk Moth's pawns was enough to get Cat Noir to rethink his plan of action, but this time all he could see in his mind was the image of his sweet, innocent, little Ladybug crying in the street scared and alone.

"And I don't appreciate what you did to My Lady, so I guess we're even! No, wait…" Cat Noir grabbed The Authority by the shirt, twisting the fabric so he wouldn't be able to get away as he raised his fist to him and swung as hard as he could. "… now, we're even."

"Bad decision!" The Authority screamed, starting to levitate himself off the ground as his newfound anger seemed to give him a power boost. "You're going to pay!" Instead of aiming for Cat Noir, The Authority aimed his fire at Ladybug.

"Kitty Cat!" The tiny girl shrieked, frozen in fear.

"Ladybug! No!" Cat Noir lunged at her, wrapping her tight in his arms so she wouldn't get hurt as they rolled across the pavement just barely avoiding the beam. Several more flashes came their way and Cat Noir maneuvered them both out of harm's way each time.

"This is only the beginning!" The Authority shouted after a few more missed attempts. "I'll be back for you with reinforcements!" He informed Cat Noir as he flew off into the night. Cat Noir stared after The Authority for as long as he could before he was out of sight. Out of every other villain he'd ever had to face Cat Noir hated this one the most.

"Kitty Cat?" Ladybug sniffled, pulling on his tail after a second. Hearing the small girl call his name snapped Cat Noir out of whatever weird state of mind he was currently in. The tiny voice made him realize that maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't have been so violent towards his enemy.

"I'm sorry if I scared you Bugaboo…" The boy whispered softly, he looked almost embarrassed by his behavior as he crouched down and put his hands on her shoulders. "I just… I didn't want him to get away with what he did to you." Cat Noir hung his head in shame, but Ladybug simply hugged him tight and nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck.

"It okay Kitty Cat! You not scare me!" Ladybug smiled, patting the top of his head as if he were in fact an actual cat. "We go home now?"

"Yeah, we can go home now. I don't think The Authority is going to find anyone to terrorize at this hour of the night anyway, we should be okay until tomorrow." Cat Noir scooped the little girl up in his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder, mindlessly playing with the bell he wore as she yawned sleepily. She jingled the little bell the entire way back to the Agreste's mansion. "Okay, we need to be quiet for a minute." Cat Noir whispered.

"Shh!" Ladybug giggled, holding one of her fingers to her lips. Cat Noir nodded in approval and extended his staff enough that he could easily sneak in through his window.

"Okay…" Cat Noir whispered. "Can you say 'Tikki, Spots Off' for me?" He asked. Ladybug nodded and whispered the phrase, she seemed to be amazed by the process of her Ladybug suit disappearing to reveal her everyday clothes.

"I did it!" She squealed, clapping her hands in delight. Cat Noir shook his head, smiling as he reverted back to Adrien.

"Good job, Mari." Adrien smiled, messing up her bangs a bit. "Now, let's get ready for bed okay?" He walked over to his dresser, his smile growing when he heard the sound of little feet rushing after him.

"You can wear one of my shirts to bed like a nightgown okay?" He asked, pulling out one of his favorite black shirts along with his pajamas. Marinette took the shirt from him happily, prancing around the room with it as if it were a cape.

"I like it!" She laughed, making Adrien smile.

"Do you need help putting it on or do you know how?" He asked. Marinette shrugged in response, still running around. "Okay, well I'm going to go change in the bathroom. If you can't figure it out on your own I'll help you."

"Okay!" Mini Mari answered, smiling at him sweetly as he closed the bathroom door. Adrien hurried to change, brush his teeth, and finish getting ready for bed. When he finally finished up and opened the door again he found Marinette wrestling with her shirt on the floor, somehow she'd managed to get her head stuck in the arm hole in the process of trying to get the shirt off.

"Come here." Adrien laughed, picking her up and sitting her on the edge of his bed. "We're going to do this the way the more shy models do when they have to share a dressing room okay?"

"How?" Marinette asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"Well first, let's fix this." Adrien sighed, helping the girl get her head unstuck. "Second, we do this." Adrien told her, putting the shirt he'd taken out for her on over the shirt she'd been wearing to begin with. Before he put her arms in the holes, he helped her take her arms out of the other shirt and pulled the old shirt out from under the new one. When he was finished with that Marinette smiled at him.

"Thanks Kitty Cat!" She grinned, thankful for his patience with her.

"Anything for you Princess." He smiled back, folding her pants and shirt in a neat little pile on his desk. "Do you need anything else before we go to sleep?"

"Can I has water?" She asked. Adrien nodded and brought her some from the bathroom, helping her hold the cup so she wouldn't spill any.

"Now can we go to sleep? The boy asked, pulling down the blankets and sitting on the edge of the bed. He noticed the scared look on Marinette's face and smiled sweetly at her, picking her up so he could gently place her onto his lap. "Don't worry Mari, I'll stay with you all night. I won't let anything hurt you."

"Promise?" She asked, peering up at him through bright blue eyes.

"Cat's honor." Adrien answered. He sighed, somewhat relieved when the little girl laid down and closed her eyes. After a moment he reached over and turned his lamp off and laid down next to her, letting the girl cuddle into his chest so she would feel safe.

"Night, night Kitty Cat." She whispered softly, already half asleep.

"Goodnight, Marinette." Adrien whispered back just as quietly. He laid there with her in silence, taking comfort in the sounds of her soft, even breathing as questions of how he'd be able to fix this without blowing their secret or how he'd be able to defeat The Authority without Ladybug's help raced through his head.


	11. The Authority part 3

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Adrien heard earlier than he really wanted to the next morning, he was exhausted after everything he'd had to deal with the night before. When he finally opened his eyes he saw Marinette jumping up and down on his bed. "Wake up Kitty Cat!" The little girl giggled, surprisingly full of energy.

"My Lady, it's not even 6:00 in the morning." The boy groaned when he saw the bright green numbers on his alarm clock. He sleepily pulled the blankets over his head, but the tiny girl pulled them back down again.

"Kitty, I hungry. Do you has snacks?" She asked. Adrien sighed and sat up, realizing he'd already gotten all the sleep he was going to be allowed that day.

"Okay, I'll have Nathalie bring us some breakfast." He yawned, stretching for a minute before he grabbed his tablet from off the nightstand and hit a few buttons. When he put it back he looked over at the little girl who was now sitting nicely in the middle of her side of the bed. Adrien couldn't help but laugh at her disheveled appearance. "What am I going to do with you?" He sighed, wondering again how he'd be able to get her back to normal.

"I no know." Marinette shrugged, crawling over to sit in his lap. The tiny girl was completely oblivious to the huge problem Adrien was faced with solving alone.

"Don't worry." Adrien sighed, gently running his fingers through her tousled hair as he tried to think. "I'm going to figure this out." He promised, still twisting her hair through his fingers. The two of them sat like that in silence for a while until they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Adrien?" Nathalie's voice called. "I have your breakfast."

"Okay, just a second!" Adrien called back, looking at Marinette and holding a finger to his lips. "Shh…" He whispered, waiting for her to copy him before getting up and going over to the door. He looked at Marinette one more time before taking a deep breath and opening the door a crack. Nathalie looked almost as tired as he felt.

"Good morning, Young Mr. Agreste." She greeted him, fighting a yawn. "You're up extra early this morning."

"I uh… have a lot of homework this weekend." Adrien lied. "I was going to do it last night, but I got to go to Father's dinner party instead." Adrien took the tray from Nathalie and smiled. "Thanks for bringing breakfast up so early."

"Oh umm… you're welcome…" Nathalie answered as Adrien closed the door and locked it once again. He took the covered plate over to his desk and sat down and Mari ran over to him.

"Come on." He smiled, picking her up so she could sit on his lap. Once she was settled Adrien opened up the dome covering the tray to reveal a stack of pancakes along with some orange juice and a fruit cup.

"Yummy!" Marinette giggled, looking at the food. Adrien laughed lightly and started cutting the pancakes up into tiny bites for the girl.

"Here, Mari." He picked up one of the pieces of pancake onto the fork and brought it to her mouth, cupping his hand underneath the fork just in case so it wouldn't end up on the carpet. Marinette chewed the food and smiled as she looked up at him.

"I like it!" She squealed. "Can I have another one?" She asked looking hungrily at the plate of food. Adrien nodded and got her another bite.

"Didn't you have dinner last night?" He asked, surprised by how quickly she swallowed the piece of food. Marinette thought for a second before shrugging.

"I not remember." She told him, trying to reach for the cup of fruit. Adrien handed it to her, he knew that he himself didn't like to eat dinner before patrol so he was only assuming that it was the same for Marinette.

"Well you can have whatever you want here." He told her, helping her with the juice. He didn't touch a single bite of the food until Marinette decided that she was too full to eat anymore.

"What we do now Kitty Cat?" She asked after Adrien had cleaned up the breakfast tray and managed to get them both dressed for the day. He thought for a second.

"Umm, I guess now I have to go patrol the city and make sure The Authority isn't causing any more trouble." He told her, transforming into Cat Noir. "You can stay here where I know nothing will hurt you." He said, walking over to the window.

"But…" Marinette whispered softly. When Cat Noir turned around to look at her he was surprised to see the deeply hurt expression on her face. "I wanna stay with you!" She sniffled, running over to him and hugging his legs so he couldn't move. "Please, Kitty Cat! I be good!"

"But Princess…" Cat Noir frowned, looking down at the tears in her eyes, he couldn't stand being the one who put them there. He shook his head and sighed, changing his mind against his better judgement. "Fine. But you need to listen to me okay?" Marinette nodded.

"I listen!" She agreed. Cat Noir sighed and looked at her, he couldn't believe she'd managed to sucker him into this all with one little look.

"Okay. Then let's see some spots." He said, opening her little purse so Tikki would be able to get out. "Say 'Tikki, Spots On!'" He coached her.

"Tikki! Spots On!" Marinette yelled, watching her transformation with excitement in her eyes. "Now I Ladybug!"

"Excellent job, My Lady." He picked her up, cradling her tight against his chest with one arm. "Now, I mean it… you gotta listen to me out there so nobody gets hurt.

"I will!" She smiled. Cat Noir sighed, sneaking out the window then, once they were safely on the ground he put her down and took her hand so she couldn't wander off. They walked up and down a few streets together before the sound of a familiar voice stopped them.

"Cat Noir!" Alya called, pointing her camera towards him, she didn't notice Ladybug with him at first.

"Kitty Cat!" Ladybug frowned, hiding behind him. She peeked out from around his legs after a few seconds had passed, but as soon as she noticed Alya was still there she hid again.

"What happened?!" Alya asked. Cat Noir frowned slightly and looked down at his little partner.

"It's actually all my fault…" He explained. "I was busy last night, so I couldn't go on patrol with Ladybug and while she was out by herself someone got akumatized." He gestured down to the scared little girl. "And as you can see, he managed to get her." Cat Noir frowned and bent down to look at Ladybug. "Don't worry Princess, Alya would never hurt you. She's sort of like a friend okay?"

"Yeah." Alya crouched down beside the pair of heroes. "Maybe I can help you and Cat Noir?"

"Don't waste your time!" Another voice called.

"Alya! Go hide!" Cat Noir yelled, pulling his staff off of his belt as he turned to face The Authority. "My Lady, go with Alya!"

"But Kitty Cat…" Ladybug started to protest, but Cat Noir wasn't having any part of it right now.

"Ladybug! I said go with Alya!" He ordered. The little girl looked hurt that Cat Noir had yelled at her.

"I've got her." Alya interjected, scooping the tiny hero up and running to hide in a nearby alley. Though this exchange only lasted a matter of seconds from the time The Authority arrived, it had still given the villain enough of an opening to land a good hit on Cat Noir.

"Ahh!" Cat Noir went flying backwards, sliding along the pavement for a few feet before finally stopping.

"Kitty Cat!" Ladybug screamed, trying to run to him, but Alya held her back.

"You need to stay here little one…" Alya frowned slightly, watching The Authority move in on Cat Noir.

"Drop something?" He asked the hero, holding Cat Noir's staff as if it were a baseball bat. Cat Noir quickly jumped to his feet and tried to grab at it.

"Uh, uh, uh!" The Authority reprimanded him, swinging hard. Cat Noir cried out in pain when the stick connected with his ribs, holding on to his side in obvious pain. "Give me your Miraculous and all this pointless suffering will be over!"

"Do something!" Ladybug begged, her eyes tearing up as she looked on at Cat Noir. "He hurting him!"

"I'll never give up my Miraculous!" Cat Noir yelled, struggling to get up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ladybug watching him and it gave him a little more strength to keep fighting.

"Then I'll take it from you!" The villain growled, changing his offence a bit. Alya frowned as she watched Cat Noir painfully twist and turn out of the way of the flashes of light coming from The Authority's tie.

"Save him!" The tiny hero pulled on her pigtails, prancing around as she watched Cat Noir barely duck low enough to miss one of the beams. Alya shook her head.

"I can't..." She paused for a second. "…but maybe you can!" Alya pointed to Ladybug's yoyo and smiled. "You can use your Lucky Charm!"

"What that?" The girl asked, looking confused.

"I don't know… it seems to be different every time. You just throw your yoyo up in the air and say 'Lucky Charm'." Alya told her. "I've seen you do it lots of times to defeat bad guys."

"Now I've got you!" The Authority yelled, causing Ladybug to look up. Cat Noir was on the ground a few feet away, the villain holding him in place by standing on his tail.

"Kitty Cat…" Ladybug frowned, gripping her yoyo tight. "Lucky Charm!" She called, throwing it into the air. Her frown deepened when a mirror came down and landed in her hands. "What?" She frowned. "No! I want save Kitty, not see me!" She yelled at the object.

"Stay here!" Alya yelled, grabbing the mirror from the girl. She dove in front of Cat Noir, shielding them both with the mirror as The Authority shot another beam at the hero. "Cat Noir, get up!" She yelled, dragging him away from the now extremely angry villain.

"Thanks Alya." Cat Noir grinned, pulling the end of his tail out of her hand and patting it for a moment, he hated when anyone touched it despite the fact that it wasn't real.

"Don't thank me, thank…"

"Littlebug!" The Authority laughed wickedly, yanking the small girl over to him by the wrist.

"No!" Cat Noir's heart dropped as he watched the villain levitate into the air, holding Ladybug only by the wrist.

"Give me your Miraculous or your precious little Ladybug is gonna go splat!" The Authority released one of his fingers from around the little girl's wrist. Cat Noir felt tears sting his eyes as Ladybug screamed out in fear. The Authority took another finger off of her wrist. "Oh no… I don't think I can hold on much longer!" He cried sarcastically.

"No! Stop!" Cat Noir held his hands up in surrender. "It's yours! I'll give you my ring just… just don't hurt her… Please." A few terrified tears spilled down Cat Noir's face. Ladybug frowned slightly, looking from Cat Noir's face, to The Authority, and back.

"Cat Noir! What are you doing?!" Alya screamed, she couldn't believe the turn of events.

"I have no choice! I won't let that little girl get hurt because of me!" He told her, about to take off his ring when suddenly the sound of screams as both Ladybug and The Authority began to fall stopped him.

"No!" Cat Noir screamed, lunging forward to try and catch Ladybug. "Oh thank God." Cat Noir sighed in relief as the force of catching the girl knocked him into the asphalt. His pain didn't register as he hugged her tight against his chest, thankful he'd broken her fall.

"What happened?" Alya asked, running over to them. Cat Noir looked down at Ladybug quizzically, he was wondering the same thing.

"I taked this…" She admitted, showing Cat Noir and Alya the tie The Authority had been wearing.

"Amazing…" Cat Noir said, shaking his head in utter disbelief. "…saving Paris even at only three years old."

"Yeah, we'll see about that." Alya said, moving a piece of the little girl's hair to reveal her earrings only had two spots left. "You're running out of time." She reminded him as another spot disappeared.

"Okay…" Cat Noir helped Ladybug stand up. "I'm going to release a mean butterfly from this tie… I need you to swing your yoyo around and catch it so it can be nice again okay?" Ladybug blinked at him, confusion clear on her face as the last spot on her earrings started to flicker. "Okay, My Lady… we're gonna try and if you can't do it, it's okay." Cat Noir tore the tie in half and released the akuma, holding his breath as mini-Ladybug tried to catch it. Time seemed to pass in slow motion for Cat Noir as he watched what happened.

"She did it!" Alya cheered after what felt like an eternity for Cat Noir.

"Purrfect job, Princess." Cat Noir handed her the mirror as the spot's blinking sped up. "Throw it in the air and say 'Miraculous Ladybug'!"

"Why?" The little girl asked. Cat Noir shook his head, bouncing slightly.

"Because! Please just do it for me Bugaboo." He begged. "Hurry!"

"Okay Kitty Cat!" She smiled, happy enough to do it simply because her Kitty wanted her to. "Miraculous Ladybug!" She yelled, tossing the mirror in the air. Cat Noir wasted no time waiting for them to watch the process before he pulled Ladybug with him into the alley and hid them behind the dumpster safe from being seen. A few more seconds passed before Ladybug's transformation wore off and she was returned to normal.

"Cat Noir?" Marinette asked, confused. "What happened to you?" She asked when she saw how battered and bruised he looked. Cat Noir simply shook his head and breathed a sigh of relief as he tackled her into a tight hug.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you're back to normal My Lady."

* * *

 **A/N: So how was that akuma? It was kinda hard to hold back because if it were up to me (which I guess it is?) Mari would have been little for a few more chapters. I love Mini-Mari, but I didn't want to bore you guys with too much of her. But anyway, new chapters soon... I want to update some of Miscalculated first though because I've neglected it a bit. As always I'd love a review so you can let me know what you thought! See you all soon! Thanks for reading!**


	12. Switcher part 1

"Oh come on!" Marinette laughed despite losing another round of foosball to Adrien. "That's the fifth game in a row you've won!"

"Adrien wins almost every time." Nino called over to her from the couch where he and Alya were playing video games together. Adrien smiled at Marinette, an innocent smile taking form on his face as he placed the second mini soccer ball on the table.

"I guess I've just got cat-like reflexes." He flicked his wrist and sent the little ball whizzing into Marinette's goal box. Marinette shook her head at him, she couldn't believe he would make jokes like that with Alya and Nino sitting right there.

"Cat Noir's got nothing on you!" Alya teased, still absorbed in her own game. Marinette laughed lightly thinking about how their friends didn't even know the half of it. Adrien smiled at Marinette and put his arm around her shoulder, going over to the couch with her so they could watch their friends play. Heading into the last lap of their race they were neck and neck fighting for first place. Marinette was about to ask if she could play the winner when the four of them heard yelling coming from the hallway.

"Honestly, Nathalie, I don't know how hard it is for you to follow the simplest instructions!" Adrien frowned when he heard his father yelling, his cheeks turning pink as his friends turned to look at the door.

"But, sir, Adrien having his friends over makes him happy. Nino, Alya, and Marinette are always quiet and respectful when they come to visit, I didn't think it would be a problem."

"It is not your job to decide what is best for my son! I employ you to follow my instructions and keep my affairs in order!" Mr. Agreste's voice boomed, echoing loudly into Adrien's room. Marinette frowned slightly when she saw the look on Adrien's face and squeezed his shoulder, silently telling him that he didn't have to face this alone.

"Yes sir." Nathalie answered, her voice sounding somewhat broken and monotone.

"Get them out of my house this instant!" Gabriel growled at her. Alya and Nino held their breath and looked at each other as a few moments of painfully awkward silence passed and the door opened.

"Pardon the interruption Young Mr. Agreste, but I was instructed to tell your friends that it's time for them to go home." Nathalie couldn't look Adrien in the face as she came further into the room and guided Nino and Alya to the door. "You too Ms. Dupain-Cheng." Nathalie frowned, pulling Marinette along and ushering her out of the room.

"Oh, and Nathalie…" Mr. Agreste looked at the woman with disinterest.

"Yes sir?"

"You can go with them. Your services are no longer required." Gabriel's face never changed expressions as he watched the shock Nathalie felt find its way onto her face." Alya, Nino, and Marinette all looked at the floor, trying not to make the situation more awkward for the woman.

"But…" Nathalie started to speak up, but frowned when she saw the growing anger behind Mr. Agreste's eyes. "Yes sir… I'll go pack my things." The woman hung her head as she walked past the group of children and made her way towards her office.

"What are you all still standing there for? Get out!" Mr. Agreste screamed, ushering the three friends down the stairs. Nathalie cringed as she heard the front door slam shut, a few tears slipping down her face.

"If only you knew what it was like…" She frowned, hugging her tablet to her chest as she let herself sink into her desk chair for the last time. "You don't have to see the sadness on Adrien's face every time you disappoint him. If our roles were reversed I would make sure that boy never felt the embarrassment of getting his friends tossed out ever again."

"Poor pathetic Nathalie." Hawk Moth laughed, readying one of his akumas. "Her bleeding heart is the perfect environment for my little akuma to slip in and give her a little taste of the perspective she desires." Hawk Moth released his akuma, waiting for a connection between himself and Nathalie to be established before he spoke. "Switcher, I understand that you're frustrated by the lack of compassion your employer has shown you this afternoon."

"If he only had to walk in my shoes for a day!" Nathalie answered, balling her hands into tight fists. Hawk Moth smiled, to him this was perfect.

"I can give you the power to force that perspective unto others, but only if you're willing to help me with one little thing. I will require that you find Ladybug and Cat Noir… once you do that you will need to defeat them and bring me their Miraculouses. Once you bring them to me you will never again need to run around for a boss who doesn't appreciate you ever again. Your bosses will answer to you!" Hawk Moth grinned wickedly, squeezing his hand into a tight ball as he imagined finally defeating the superhero duo. "What do you say Switcher? Will you bring me their Miraculouses?"

"Right away sir!" Nathalie grinned, closing her eyes as she let the power course through her body. When she opened her eyes again and looked down at her tablet she saw that her hair had gone from black with a red streak to red with a black streak, her blue eyes were now replaced with a bright violet, and the colors of her usually gray suit and red turtleneck combo had been inverted.

"I can't believe how uncool Adrien's dad is being!" Nino complained as he walked down the street with Alya and Marinette. Marinette frowned slightly, she agreed but didn't want to talk about the situation behind her boyfriend's back.

"I can!" Alya spoke up. "It's just like Mr. Agreste to try and control every little aspect of Adrien's life!"

"Nathalie?" Marinette frowned when she noticed Switcher standing on the roof of a nearby building.

"That too." Alya nodded, misunderstanding her friend. "What Mr. Agreste did to his assistant was cold." At the mention of the situation switcher jumped down from the building and stood in front of the three friends.

"Oh no…" Marinette frowned, scanning the rooftops for any sign that her partner would be coming to the rescue.

"Nathalie? Is that you?" Nino asked, scrunching his face up as he tried to see the resemblance between Nathalie and Switcher.

"No way!" Alya pulled her phone out and started recording. "Is there anything you want to say to the citizens of Paris? Why are you doing this!? The people have a right to know!" Alya smiled and pushed her camera closer to the villain. Switcher growled angrily and raised her tablet, pointing it towards them.

"Switch!" She called out, swiping up on her the device. Marinette immediately dove out of the way, but Nino and Alya didn't have the same reaction as the secret hero. Marinette frowned when she saw that Nino's outfit had changed to resemble Alya's and now he was the one holding up the phone trying to record the video for the Ladyblog. Alya didn't seem to notice anything was amiss, simply putting on a pair of headphones that looked exactly like the ones Nino had been wearing before they'd been zapped.

"You're kidding me, right?" Marinette sighed and took a few steps backwards before turning to run.

"Leaving so soon?" Switcher asked, chasing after her. "But things were just starting to get interesting!" The villain kept up with Marinette easily, switching pairs of people as she ran after the younger girl.

"Princess!" Cat Noir called, extending his stick down from one of the roofs for Mari to grab onto. Once she had a good hold on it he pressed the button again and brought her up to the roof with him.

"Thanks Kitty…" Marinette breathed, looking down at the angry woman. Cat Noir frowned slightly and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Hold on tight, we need to go somewhere safe." He told her, catapulting them from rooftop to rooftop until they were out of the sight of the general public.

"She seems to be switching people's personalities with her tablet." Marinette told him, explaining what had happened to Alya and Nino. Cat Noir nodded, trying to make sense of the information she'd given him.

"Well I guess whatever she's doing needs to be stopped before something really bad happens. Suit up Bugaboo."

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you like this new akuma victim! Let me know what you thought of the chapter, it'd really make my day to see your reviews! Thanks for reading! New chapter soon!**


	13. Switcher part 2

"Ladybug! Cat Noir!" Nino ran up to the two heroes, phone at the ready. "What can you tell us about this new villain?"

"Oh…" Cat Noir was slightly taken aback by Nino asking the questions while Alya listened to her headphones nonchalantly from a few feet away. Ladybug frowned slightly but looked at the camera.

"This new villain calls herself Switcher. Her tablet gives her the power to change the personalities of two individuals with a single swipe." The hero's frown deepened a bit, she was about to warn the Parisian citizens to stay inside, but just as Alya usually did, Nino interrupted her.

"Woah! I'd hate to be on the wrong side of that tablet then, I'd hate having my personality swapped with someone else's." Nino didn't seem to realize that he'd already been effected by Switcher and her tablet. "What are you going to do to stop her?"

"Well, right now Cat Noir and I have to actually find Switcher…" Ladybug explained, looking back to the camera. "While the two of us work on that I encourage all of you to stay inside where you'll be safe." Nino nodded and lowered his phone.

"You wouldn't happen to know where she's gone off to now would you?" Cat Noir asked the boy.

"Wish I could help you guys out but I have no idea where Switcher went." The boy rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think. "The last I saw, she was chasing my friend Marinette down the street." Nino smiled, Cat Noir shook his head and sighed.

"Thank you Nino, you've been a big help." The hero told him despite the fact that he hadn't learned anything new from his friend. "I think I have an idea M'Lady. Follow me."

"Right behind you." Ladybug answered, waving goodbye to Nino before tossing her yoyo off into the distance, swinging after Cat Noir. "What's the plan?" She asked, once the two of them finally stopped for a minute on the roof of the Agreste mansion.

"Well, I figure that most of Hawk Moth's victims end up going after the person who led them to be akumatized in the first place… in Nathalie's case that person would be my father."

"Good thinking Kitty!" Ladybug smiled and swung down into the window Adrien had left open for easy access when he was coming and going as Cat Noir. "It's quiet…" She commented as she walked through the room and looked into the hallway.

"It's always quiet." Cat Noir answered, rolling his eyes. "We should go look for my father in his study. Come on." He took Ladybug's hand, pulling her with him through the house. "I just hope we get to him before Nathalie does…" He whispered, frowning slightly.

"We'll get to him in time." Ladybug smiled, squeezing his hand a little tighter.

"Aww! What a cute couple!" A sarcastic voice called from behind the pair of heroes. The two of them spun around fast, but it was too late. "Switch!" Switcher yelled, cackling wildly when she hit the surprised heroes.

"Ooooh this is bad!" Cat Noir frowned, pulling at the clingy spotted spandex he was now wearing. Ladybug looked down at her outfit and a wide smile spread across her face.

"Well this is a real cat-tastrophe, now isn't it?" She laughed. Cat Noir sighed and shook his head.

"Really? That's really _all_ you have to say right now?" He asked, gesturing to Switcher as he looked at his partner. "We're kind of in the middle of something!" Ladybug held her hands up in surrender, trying to control her laughter.

"Okay, okay, calm down… no need to bug out."

"Seriously?" Cat Noir yelled as Switcher slowly backed up before quickly turning and running down the hallway. "She's getting away!" He grabbed the baton off of the belt around Ladybug's waist and hurled it down the hallway, he intended for it to extend across the walls and slow Switcher down, but it didn't make it even halfway to where he'd intended it to go.

"Let me." Ladybug smiled, gazing into Cat Noir's eyes with a cheeky smile on her face as she robbed the yoyo from around his waist and tried to lasso Switcher as she got further and further away. Instead of capturing the villain like she'd intended to, the yoyo bounced off the wall at an awkward angle and flew back towards the pair, wrapping them tight against one another. "Well this is fun." She smiled, her cheeks turning pink as Cat Noir looked at her with slight annoyance.

"How do you even put up with me on a daily basis My Lady?" He couldn't help but smile the longer he looked at her, she was absolutely adorable with the little cat ears and piercingly blue cat eyes. "I don't how you do it."

"I don't either." She smiled, starting to untangle them. "Must be because I love you so much." She told him after a minute or two, stealing a surprise kiss from him once the words were out of her mouth.

"I love you too." Cat Noir smiled, kissing her back. "Now, since I'm in charge today…" He shot her a sly smile and took the yoyo out of her hand. "… I think we need to go catch ourselves and akuma."

"Purr-fect plan." Ladybug smiled, going down the hall a little to retrieve her baton. "Ready to go?"

"Follow me!" Cat Noir smiled, leading his partner down the hallway to his father's study. The two of them burst into the room expecting a fight, but quickly realized the room was empty.

"Where is he?" Ladybug questioned, looking around the room. Cat Noir frowned and shrugged.

"I'm not sure…"

"Someone help!" Mr. Agreste's voice yelled from outside. Ladybug ran to the window and looked into the yard, confused when she didn't see anyone. "Up here!" Gabriel called to her.

"Cat Noir! On the roof!" Ladybug yelled, using Cat Noir's stick to propel herself upwards.

"Cat Noir?" Mr. Agreste asked her, looking confused as he took in the sight of the girl wearing the cat hero's suit. "I thought you were the other one…"

"Yeah, well sorry to disappoint you again." Cat Noir answered for his partner as he finally landed on the roof as well.

"Enough!" Switcher growled. She seemed to grow even angrier at the mention of Mr. Agreste's disappointment. "You don't know what it is to be disappointed!" She yelled at her former boss. "Your son deserves more!"

"How dare you! I give him everything money can buy!" Mr. Agreste shouted back. Switcher narrowed her eyes at him and raised her tablet.

"Perhaps he wants the things money _can't_ buy!" She spat at him. "Switch!" She called, aiming her tablet at the ground beneath her feet. Slowly the roof started to rotate, picking up speed with every passing second. After about thirty seconds the speed was so intense that the four of them needed to hold on to the railing to keep from blowing off.

"Now would be a good time for a Lucky Charm!" Ladybug yelled to Cat Noir as she tightened her grip on the banister. Her partner nodded and threw the yoyo into the air.

"Lucky Charm!" He called, holing his hands out as a red and black spotted net fell down to him. "Huh? What is this going to do?" Cat Noir frowned, looking to Ladybug for help as the spinning got even faster.

"Look around! Get creative!" She coached, squeezing her eyes shut against the force of the wind. "Hurry! My hands are starting to slip!"

"Okay…" Cat Noir frowned and looked around the rooftop for a few moments. "I have a plan! Destroy the roof… use your Cataclysm!"

"On it!" Ladybug yelled back to her partner as he started using the spindles on the banister to pull him forward. "Cataclysm!" Ladybug called, slamming her hand into the ground. The spinning screamed to an immediate halt the second her hand made contact with the ground. The force of the sudden stop sent Mr. Agreste and Switcher flying through the banister as they tumbled forward, but instead of falling off the roof they landed in Cat Noir's waiting net.

"I'll take that." Cat Noir grinned and took the tablet right out of Switcher's hands, he was about to hand it over to Ladybug when he realized that he was the only one who could purify the akuma this time. After an encouraging nod from Ladybug, Cat Noir slammed the device into the ground and watched as the akuma came out. "Time to de-evilize!" He yelled, swinging around the yoyo until he managed to capture the akuma.

"Great job." Ladybug smiled, putting her hand on his shoulder as the butterfly flapped away.

"Almost done." Cat Noir smiled back, picking up the net and throwing it into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" He said, amazed as he watched the little ladybugs fly around and return everything to normal.

"Couldn't have done it better myself." Ladybug laughed, holding her hand out for a fist bump. Cat Noir smiled and touched his fist to hers, taking her hand and kissing it afterwards.

"Why thank you M'Lady." He winked at her. "Looks like we're out of time, let's go." He wrapped his arm around her waist and jumped down from the roof, making sure neither Nathalie nor his father were watching as he snuck in through his window.

"Well that was crazy." Marinette laughed as her transformation wore off. "Sorry for all the stupid cat puns…" She blushed.

"There's no such thing as a stupid cat pun Bugaboo." Adrien smiled, pulling Marinette close to him so he could kiss her. Marinette wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into the kiss, neither of them noticed the sound of footsteps coming down the hall until the very last second. "They saw you leave earlier! Hide!" Adrien whispered, pushing Mari towards the bathroom door.

"Adrien…" Mr. Agreste walked into the room without bothering to knock, the expression on his face seemed different than usual.

"Uh… yes, Father?" Adrien answered, careful not to look at the bathroom door and give Marinette's hiding place away.

"I wanted to apologize to you for embarrassing you in front of your friends earlier." Mr. Agreste couldn't look at his son as he apologized, but Adrien was happy enough that his father had attempted to do something like this at all.

"Thank you." Adrien smiled and hugged his father tight around the waist. Mr. Agreste reluctantly wrapped his arms around Adrien as well and patted him on the back. It wasn't a perfect hug, but Adrien wouldn't have traded that moment for anything.

"I don't mean to disappoint you." Mr. Agreste sighed, staying quiet for a few moments. When Adrien didn't respond the man took a deep breath and continued. "I will allow Marinette, Nino, and Alya to come visit you whenever you'd like if that will make you happy." Gabriel let go of Adrien then, not really knowing what the protocol was for how long their hug should last.

"It really will." Adrien smiled, looking much happier than he had earlier when his father had seen him. "Thanks again Father!"

"You're welcome Adrien." Mr. Agreste almost smiled but didn't quite get there. "The only reason I do the things I do is because you're my only son and I don't want you to get hurt. I hope you understand."

"I understand." Adrien smiled. "I love you too." The words seemed to take Mr. Agreste by surprise. The man nodded and cleared his throat as he walked to the door.

"Will that be all?" He asked, his face slightly more flushed than usual. If he was being honest with himself he thought his son had grown to hate him over the years, he was pleased to know that this wasn't the case.

"Actually Father, I think you should reconsider firing Nathalie… she works hard to do the right thing by you."

"Oh?" Mr. Agreste looked surprised that his son would care about something like this, but ultimately knew he was right. "I'll think about it." He told his son before turning away from him and walking back out of the room.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you liked it! I thought we could all use a sweet little father and son moment for once. Let me know what you thought if you'd like! New chapter soon!**


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